‘He can change the game in 40 minutes’: Rohit Sharma hails India’s 24-year-old star, picks his ‘most significant factor’

Cricket fans have witnessed a a mighty change in India’s 24-year-old youngster, in his approach towards batting, especially in red-ball cricket, but captain Rohit Sharma on Monday shed light on his all-round abilities and his impressive DRS calls which he felt were among the significant factors in his performance in the recently-concluded series against Sri Lanka where India won 2-0 following a 238-run win in the Bengaluru pink-ball Test. (ALSO READ: ‘He’s got attractive shots, is a good-looking man and has it all’: Gavaskar names ‘the next big thing’ in Indian cricket)

Pant scored 185 runs at a strike rate of 120.12 in the two-match series against Sri Lanka which included a stunning score in the 90s and a record half-century, breaking legendary Kapil Dev’s 40-year-old feat.

Effusive in his praise for Pant after the 2-0 series win, Rohit hailed the youngster’s improved game plan in terms of batting admitting that although there are days when one feels frustrated over his early dismissal, he has the ability to change in game in quick time.

“His batting is his batting. We know how he bats and as a team we just want to give him that freedom to bat in the way that he wants to bat. But also keeping in mind certain situations of the game, where the game is going, we have also conveyed that to him, but we want to stick with his game plan as a team. It just seems to get better and get better – his game plans.

“There will be times when you will smash your head and say ‘why did he play that shot’ but again we need to be ready to accept that with him when he bats. And he is somebody who can change the game in 40 minutes,” he said.

However, it wasn’t his batting that impressed Rohit the most. He picked Pant’s improved wicketkeeping skill as the the most significant factor in the series which included his impressive DRS calls.

“And the most significant factor of his in this series was his keeping. His keeping was best that I have seen. He kept well when England came last year and he seems to get better every time he keeps wickets for India, so that is something that I have been very impressed with.

“And also the DRS calls, seems to be making the right calls. DRS, we all know – it’s like a lottery. I have made it very clear with Rishabh what I want. There are certain aspects of the game that I have told him to look into and that’s about it. DRS calls are not something you will always get it right. There will be times when you will be making wrong calls. But that’s absolutely okay.”