England allrounder Moeen Ali said Rohit Sharma was at one point of time one of the most talented players in the world, lauding the former India Test captain as a natural to the game of cricket. Rohit recently announced his retirement from Test cricket in a career spanning 67 games, which saw him score 4,301 runs including 12 centuries and 18 half-tons.
“Rohit was a more natural player in terms of like amazing to watch. Like a proper gift given to him. When I say natural, everything looks a lot smoother. He was a top player. There was a period of time where he was probably the most talented player in the world, naturally. Like probably didn’t do the work in terms of fitness and stuff as Virat but still as effective. Would probably hit the ball further’ Moeen said in an interaction with Beard Before Wicket podcast.
Rohit had already retired from T20 Internationals after leading India to the World Cup title last year. He will, however, continue to play ODIs.
“Hello, everyone. I would just like to share that I am retiring from Test cricket. It’s been an absolute honour to represent my country in whites,” Rohit posted on social media. “Thank you for all the love and support over the years. I will continue to represent India in the ODI format.”
Rohit didn’t travel to Australia last year for the first Test in Perth due to the birth of his second child and Yashasvi Jaiswal and opened the innings. When he returned for the second Test, Rohit demoted himself in the batting order, then returned as opener for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, before dropping himself from the match in Sydney.
India had won the first Test under Bumrah’s captaincy but went on to lose the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. India had also lost the home series to New Zealand 0-3 under Rohit.
Rohit averaged 40.57 from 67 Tests. That dropped to 31.01 in Tests outside India. He averaged 24.38 in Australia and 16.63 in South Africa but the average jumped to 44.66 in England. As an opener, he averaged nearly the same (44.54) in Tests in England.
