Rohit Sharma might have gone on to establish himself as the best Indian openers again, after his innings of 138 at Lord’s on Sunday, but in a way, someone else deserves the accolades. Yes, indeed. And it is none other than his Mumbai teammate Shardul Thakur. One might wonder why.
Rohit Sharma slams ton with Shardul Thakur’s bat
The simple answer to that is, Rohit Sharma used Shardul Thakur’s bat to slam his 34th ODI ton — first by an Indian batter at Lord’s. And the funniest part in all of this is — Shardul is referred among his colleagues as ‘Lord’ as well. The all-rounder revealed the entire story to Indian Express.
He said, “I am signed with SS bats and Jatin Sareen (owner) has been very kind to send me some excellent piece of willows. Rohit once requested me to give him a couple of bats since he loved them. We all love him and he’s given us so many joyful moments in the game of cricket that denying him the bats was out of question. And today I am really happy that he scored his historic hundred at Lord’s cricket ground using one of my bats,” he said.
Good days ahead of Rohit?
It goes without saying, the duo share a hearty friendship beyond the cricket field as well. In fact, Shardul was seen joking about the same during his commentary stint with Sony Sports Network. Upon being asked by co-commentator Vivek Razdan, Shardul exclaimed, “yes, it is indeed my bat. While sitting in the comm box, I have given a start to India, in the form of Rohit.”
Coming back to the innings, this ton comes at a time for Rohit, where there were rumours, that he is being forced to retire. Such was the magnitude of the claims — that BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia had to come forward, and clear the air, that the veteran wasn’t going anywhere.
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