As Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) look to take on Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, the mentor of the 2-time champions, Gautam Gambhir, opened up on his respect for Rohit Sharma. While Gambhir has come up against some of the finest batters in the game during his active days as a cricketer, especially as the KKR skipper, there is no batter he has “feared” the most than Rohit Sharma. In a candid chat with the IPL broadcaster, Gambhir revealed that he often had to come up with multiple plans to stop Rohit from scoring runs.
Gambhir, during his cricketing career, had to plan for marquee batters like AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, etc. But, it’s Rohit against whom he had the most difficult times.
“The only batsman that I’ve feared is Rohit Sharma. The only batter who has given me sleepless nights… No Chris Gayle, no AB de Villiers, only Rohit. I always knew I had to have a Plan A, a Plan B and probably a Plan C as well, because if Rohit is in, I don’t think anything can control him,” Gambhir told Star Sports.
“I’ve never planned for any other batter in the IPL except Rohit Sharma. There has been times where I had seen visuals and I said, ‘Fair enough. Plan A is fine’. But for Rohit, one night before I used to think, if this doesn’t work I have to get the other plan,” he further added.
In IPL 2024, Sunil Narine has emerged as a consistent performer for KKR, both with the bat and the ball. While admitting that Narine vs Rohit is a battle that he has his eyes on, Gambhir also asserted that he needs more than just the 4 overs from the West Indian to keep Rohit in check.
“If Sunil bowls his four over, then who is going to bowl the next 16? And if I finish off Sunil early and Rohit is there, he can hit 30 off one over. Probably, he was the only batter I feared as a captain,” he added.
