Legendary England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott believes that Rohit Sharma “will not be missed” as much as Virat Kohli in the upcoming five-match Test series against England. Both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announced their retirement from Test cricket last month ahead of the England Test series.
Boycott acknowledged Rohit’s brilliance with the bat but pointed out that his recent slump in form has made Virat Kohli the more dependable option. “Rohit was a superb batsman. At his best, a beautiful stroke player, but he will not be missed as much as Kohli because his Test record was good rather than exceptional. In the last couple of years his batting was a little inconsistent which was not surprising in his late 30s,” Boycott wrote on Telegraph
“Rohit was never a natural athlete like Kohli and he knows that opening the innings in England can be pretty tough because the new ball moves around more. You really have to be up for the challenge to have any chance of success. I just think that over time the wear and tear of opening the innings and being captain in all three formats wore him down,” he added.
Following Virat Kohli’s retirement from Test cricket last month, there were alot of speculations regarding who will fill in the shoes of Kohli as the number 4 batting position was held not only by Kohli but also by the legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.
There were various rumours and speculations that India’s newly appointed skipper Shubman Gill would bat at number 4, however Rishabh Pant confirmed that Gill will drop from number three and take up a new role in the red-ball setup.
“I think there is still discussion going on, who’s going to play three, but definitely four and five are fixed. I think Shubman is going to bat at number four, and I am going to stick to number five as of now, and the rest, we are going to keep on discussing that,” Pant said during a press conference on Wednesday.
Shubman has played 17 mathces while playing at number three, and he has scored 1019 runs at 37.74, with three centuries and as many fifties, all coming on home turf.
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