EXCLUSIVE: Right now, Rohit is ahead of Virat as a batsman: Sandeep Patil

At a time when the cricketing world is busy joining dots on Virat Kohli’s road to Sachin Tednulkar’s feats, former India chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil has thrown a new competitor in front of Virat Kohli, who he thinks is better than him – Rohit Sharma.

Rohit is currently leading India in the absence of regular captain Virat Kohli and is in scintillating form. He equaled the record of fastest ever T20I century off 35 ball in the first T20I against Sri Lanka at Indore nine nights after becoming the only cricketer to hit three ODI double tons.

“Virat Kohli fans might not like it but I have to say Rohit Sharma is currently the better batsman,” said ABP News' cricket expert Sandeep Patil.

Explaining his comments, Patil further said, “Virat is definitely a great batsman, no doubt about it. He is India’s best Test batsman but when it comes to limited overs cricket, Rohit is ahead of him.”

As astonishing as it may sound, the numbers are also in favour of Rohit.

In 2017, Rohit has scored 1460 runs in 26 ODIs at an average of 76.8 while Virat Kohli has notched up 1293 runs in 21 matches at a slightly lower average of 71.8. Both of them have scored six hundreds each in 2017.

When it comes to T20s, the numbers tilt even more towards Rohit. In the current year, Rohit has amassed 299 runs including a world record century in 10 matches. Kohli is not far behind with 256 runs in eight matches. However, there is a big difference in the strike rate. Rohit scores at staggering 176 whereas Virat’s strike rate is 152.

And when you throw in Rohit’s three double hundreds in the mix, Patil’s comments become even more believable.

“I’m sure Virat’ going to comeback from break and score lots of runs in South Africa but when we talk about limited overs cricket this year, Rohit has been unbelievable. People may say he has played more matches against Sri Lanka but so has Virat. Whether he is playing only as a batsman or as cpatian Rohit has proved he is best at the moment.” Patil signed off.

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