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Sanjay Manjrekar claims Rohit Sharma is not among all-time Indian batting greats like Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli, despite Rohit’s ODI records.
Rohit Sharma is the current captain of India’s ODI team. (Picture Credit: AFP)
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has made a bold claim that India’s ODI captain Rohit Sharma does not feature among the all-time Indian batting greats. According to Manjrekar, legends such as Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Virat Kohli are included in this elite list, but Rohit Sharma falls short of this category in his opinion.
Speaking on “The Great Indian Cricket Show” on Doordarshan, Sanjay Manjrekar said, “Rohit Sharma does not fit in the All-Time Indian Batting Great list because we’re talking about legends like Gavaskar (Sunil), Tendulkar (Sachin), Dravid (Rahul), and Virat (Kohli). Rohit does not quite make it there.”
However, Manjrekar also described Rohit as a selfless cricketer. He mentioned that in one-day cricket, selflessness and captaincy are important, and Rohit Sharma stands out in these areas.
Is Rohit Sharma The Best Indian Batter?
Rohit Sharma, also known as the Hitman, has a remarkable record in the 50-over World Cups. He is India’s third-highest and overall fourth-highest run-scorer in World Cup history, with 1,575 runs in 28 matches at an average of 60.57, including seven centuries and six fifties. His best score is 140. Rohit holds the record for the most centuries during a single World Cup, scoring five during the 2019 World Cup in the UK, where he amassed 648 runs in nine matches at an average of 81.00.
In the subsequent World Cup held in India, Rohit continued his consistent and aggressive performance, emerging as the second-highest run-scorer with 597 runs in 11 matches at an average of 54.27 and a strike rate over 125, including a century and three fifties.
Manjrekar further elaborated, “But if you look at one-day cricket, selflessness, or captainship, then you have to mention Rohit Sharma. Especially after the 2023 World Cup, the love people have for him is on another level. People saw that he was never thinking about himself; he was willing to sacrifice his own interests for the team’s advantage. That’s his real speciality. His easy domination in limited-overs cricket was always pleasing, almost making 300 runs in one ODI innings. But when you talk of an all-time Indian Batting Great, Test cricket holds more weightage, I don’t think he made a big impact in that format.”
Rohit, who retired from Test cricket in May earlier this year and from T20 cricket after India’s T20 World Cup 2024 triumph in June, is now only active in the 50-over format. Rohit Sharma is India’s fourth-highest international run-scorer across all formats with 19,700 runs.
In 273 ODIs and 265 innings, he has scored 11,168 runs at an average of 48.76, with 32 centuries and 58 fifties. His best score in ODIs is 264, and he is the only batter with three ODI double centuries.
The 38-year-old represented India in 67 Tests, scoring 4,301 runs at an average of 40.57, with 12 centuries and 18 half-centuries. His best performance was a knock of 212 during a home series against South Africa in 2019.
Rohit is the leading run-scorer in T20 cricket, with 4,231 runs in 159 matches at an average of 32.05 and a strike rate of 140.89, including five centuries and 32 half-centuries, with the best score of 121*. During his 17-year-long T20I career, Rohit hit a total of 205 sixes, the most by any batter. He remains the only batter to have hit 200 or more sixes in T20 cricket.
He also holds the record for the fastest T20I century for India, scoring it in just 35 balls against Sri Lanka in 2017, finishing with 118 runs off 43 balls, including 12 fours and 10 sixes.
(With inputs from ANI)
Ritayan Basu, Senior Sub-Editor, Sports at News18.com. Has been covering domestic and and international football for nearly a decade. Has played and covered badminton. Ocassionally writes cricket content, havin…Read More
Ritayan Basu, Senior Sub-Editor, Sports at News18.com. Has been covering domestic and and international football for nearly a decade. Has played and covered badminton. Ocassionally writes cricket content, havin… Read More
September 09, 2025, 15:18 IST
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