'Reminded me of Sachin Tendulkar'- Shoaib Akhtar on Rohit Sharma playing an upper cut against Mitchell Starc

When Yuzvendra Chahal asked Rohit Sharma about the reason behind him stroking so many sixes and that too with death-defying ease after the Hitman had massacred the likes of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and co to the tune of 119 off 128 balls- an innings which included eight fours and six sumptuous but at the same time monstrous sixes- on his post-game chat show ‘Chahal TV’, the 32-year-old revealed how he just focus on his timing to hit the ball past the boundary line.

Timing- That’s the keyword there. When Rohit Sharma bats, it feels like time has stopped; everything feels like its happening in slow-motion. The ease with which he nonchalantly times the ball can leave you drooling for more. And, it is not just us fans but former cricketers including ‘The Rawalpindi Express’ Shoaib Akhtar, who are in absolute awe of Rohit.

It was another night of sumptuous batting display of batsmanship by Rohit Sharma on Sunday and Shoaib Akhtar is absolutely gobsmacked [again] at what he saw in the final ODI. Akhtar, in his typical manner, hailed Rohit for his brilliance, his elegance and ushered that when on song, the Mumbai batsman just doesn’t care about anything.

“When Rohit is on song then he doesn’t care whether the ball is good or bad because he has so much of time, he has so much of elegance when he plays the shots. It (batting) comes very easy and naturally to him,” said Shoaib Akhtar on his Youtube channel.

Rohit Sharma scored a brilliant ton against Australia in the third ODI

Rohit Sharma has been quite a few upper-cuts over the backward point-third man region in recent times. He stroked Hasan Ali for a nonchalant upper-cut during the 2019 World Cup; one that even prompted comparisons with the iconic stroke that Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar played against Shoaib Akhtar in the 2003 World Cup. Rohit Sharma did the same to Mitchell Starc in the third ODI which proceeded to remind Akhtar of that six by Tendulkar.

Sachin in 2003 or Rohit in 2019 – who did it better? pic.twitter.com/M9k8z5lLQd

— ICC (@ICC) June 16, 2019

“You saw his ruthlessness today. Usne maar maar k bharta nikal dia. He hit Mitchell Starc, he went after Cummins. The cut shot that he hit reminded me of Tendulkar’s six,” added Akhtar.

Watch the video here: