Ex-South Africa cricketer Herschelle Gibbs has called Rohit Sharma a ‘more technically correct’ batter than Virat Kohli in the backdrop of both cricketers calling time on their careers from the longest format of the game in the span of a week. The Indian Test team will be sans both stars for the long tour of England which starts next month. Kohli and Sharma have been cornerstones of the Indian teams for more than a decade now.
While engaging with fans on his X account, Gibbs declared that Sharma is a ‘more technically correct’ batter than Virat Kohli, before explaining why.
The conversation started because a handle on X has posted clips of both India batters while trying to make the case that Sharma plays different types of shots even in bad form and in constantly adapting.
Responding to that tweet, Gibbs said: “It’s up to the batting coach to give him (Virat Kohli) more options to score no matter who the batter is.. thank me later.”
Later, responding to a direct query about who was the more technically proficient batter among the two, Gibbs said: “Rohit was always more technically correct than Virat. But Virat’s desire to dominate, especially in white ball format, is a major difference between the two batters.”
As a teenager leading the Indian cricket team to the U19 World Cup title, Virat Kohli had mentioned in a now-viral video for ICC’s social media handles that the South African opener Gibbs was his “favorite cricketer”.
The admiration is clearly mutual.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been two of the most prolific cricketers for Team India. (BCCI)
When another X account disagreed with Gibb’s assessment, the South African elaborated why he thought that Sharma was more technically sound than Virat Kohli.
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“You ever see Rohit defend balls on 4th or 5th stump? How many times did Virat get out doing just that? Rohit definitely technically better than Virat,” Gibbs wrote.
While Rohit Sharma played 67 Tests for India before retiring, Virat Kohli ended his whites career after playing 123 Tests. While Sharma managed 4301 runs in his Test career, Kohli ended his innings in the longest format of the sport with 9230 runs against his name.