The talks around Rohit Sharma and his recent position with opening the batting in the longer format of the game took a historic turn in the 1st Test at Vizag against South Africa. The Indian limited-overs opener started his new innings by smashing back-to-back tons (176 & 127) including 13 sixes to etch his name into the record books. Alongside fans and other cricket experts, former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar too praised him.

“Apka Naam kya hai?” Shoaib Akhtar reminisced asking Rohit Sharma his name back in Bangladesh in 2013 before asking him to add G- for Greatness before his name. “I had asked Rohit to add a G, for Great, before his name and play with a mindset that he is the best batsman in India,” Akhtar added.

Akhtar further added that he asked Rohit Sharma to add some confidence in himself as a Test cricketer. According to Akhtar, the biggest reason why Rohit failed to get success in Tests was that he tried to change his natural game.

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“According to me, the problem in the past was not that he didn’t have the technique to survive in 5-day cricket, the problem was that he tried to become a Test batsman, doing things that do not come naturally to him,” he told.

Moreover, Akhtar compared Rohit with the veteran Virender Sehwag. Shoaib Akhtar shared that Sehwag’s success lay in his insatiable desire to attack the bowlers from the outset and that the 32-year-old Sharma has a better technique than Sehwag.

“Now you can see when Rohit put this thought out of his mind, he scored a century,” Akhtar concluded.