Rohit Sharma's natural ability to hit big shots is still there: Sanjay Manjrekar lauds India captain

Former India player Sanjay Manjrekar heaped rich praise on Rohit Sharma for his blazing fifty against Pakistan, saying that the Indian captain's ability to strike big in white-ball cricket has not diminished. Manjrekar also added that Rohit's defending game had improved against Pakistan on Sunday.

After being dismissed cheaply against Pakistan in the group game, Rohit was on point against them in the Super 4 match in Colombo. The Indian captain scored a 49-ball 56 and hit six fours and four sixes before being dismissed by Shadab Khan.

"He got 5 hundred in the last World Cup, right? My assessment of Rohit Sharma is that his defense has actually gotten much better. He is a much better Test player now than he was in 2019. So I have no issues. It's about converting those starts into big hundreds because that involves running a lot of ones and twos later on in the innings. But, on the pure quality of defense, Rohit is better today. That natural ability to hit the big shots is still there," Sanjay Manjrekar said while speaking to Star Sports.

Manjrekar added that the Indian captain needs to start converting his fifties into centuries and said that he's regaining the form he showed at the 2019 World Cup. With 648 runs in nine innings at an average of 81, Rohit Sharma was the highest run-scorer in the 2019 World Cup. He also set a tournament record with five hundreds against England, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South Africa and Pakistan.

Manjrekar believes Suryakumar Yadav, who has been named to the 2023 World Cup squad, deserves a look before the tournament.

"KL Rahul coming in at that position is good for Indian cricket because they wanted to test his match fitness out. If India is looking to test the waters before the World Cup, then you must give Suryakumar a game. His One-Day credentials are still in doubt and we don't know if he would make the same kind of impact," Manjrekar added.