Sandeep Patil willing to give Rohit Sharma an extended run

Sandeep Patil, the chairman of the Indian selection committee has come under a massive amount of flak following the selection of Rohit Sharma. The 29-year old didn’t have the best of the tours to the Caribbean where he managed fewer than a hundred runs. However, the Indian selection committee went ahead and put their faith in the Mumbai-lad.

Patil, who chaired the meeting that took place earlier today in Mumbai came out in defense of the selection stating that he and the rest of the selectors were more than prepared to give Rohit more time to establish himself at the Test match level.

“Rohit is a fabulous player, an immense talent he has got. But he hasn’t got a longer run in Test cricket. What we have seen with Rohit Sharma, is he is picked for one Test match and then rested for the entire season and then again picked. So selection committee, along with coach and captain feels that whoever, I am not only naming Rohit, whoever will be picked will be given a fair amount of chances here onwards,” he said.

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Having been a part of the India side since 2008, Rohit has had a well-documented problem when it comes to playing Test matches. Although he initially established himself as a long format player at the domestic level, Sharma has made a name for himself in the Indian team’s ODI setup where he is the only batsman to boast of two double-centuries.

However, when it comes to Test matches, the 29-year old seems to be terribly short of the likes of Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane. While his ODI average is well beyond 40, his Test match average amounts to just 36. Moreover, while he boasts of 5000 ODI runs, he is yet to reach 1000 Test match runs in the 18 matches that he has featured in thus far.

Gautam Gambhir and Shreyas Iyer were heavily tipped to make their way into the Indian team in place of the under-performing Rohit Sharma, only for the latter to go ahead and retain his place in the side against all odds.

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