Had I been captain or selector, I would've surely picked Rohit Sharma for 2011 World Cup: Virender Sehwag
Legendary Indian opener Virender Sehwag has claimed that if he had a say in the selection of the 2011 World Cup squad, he would have picked Rohit Sharma in the 15-man roster.
Rohit was gutted about missing out on being a part of the squad, and the likes of Suresh Raina and Yusuf Pathan made it ahead of him. Sehwag explained the reason why the-then team management could have opted against Rohit.
Speaking to Cricbuzz after India's win over Afghanistan, here's what Virender Sehwag had to say about Rohit Sharma (9:09):
"If I had been the captain or a selector, I would have surely picked him for the 2011 World Cup. But at that time he was not the Rohit Sharma that he is right now. He was a bit young and at the end of the day, it is the decision of the captain and selectors as to the team balance that they want.
"Maybe that snub motivated him to become more consistent and he realized that he had to score so many runs that he would never miss a World Cup again."
Sehwag further added:
"You can only select 15 players for a World Cup and at that point, Yusuf Pathan had a couple of crucial innings just before the tournament that is, what maybe worked in his favor and Rohit Sharma had to be left out."
Virender Sehwag was also mesmerized to see the way Rohit batted against Afghanistan, scoring 131 off just 84 balls. On this, he said (11:43):
"Rohit Sharma gave a clear message with his innings that score big hundreds even today he scored 30 more runs after getting to his hundred has already scored three double centuries. So it gives the opposition a clear message that if he settles at the crease for a long time, he will not spare you. He mathematically missed the double century even todayL(Laughs)."
Virender Sehwag on Rohit Sharma's journey as an opener
Rohit Sharma's rise to opening the batting for India almost coincided with Virender Sehwag's exit and the latter praised him for the way he adjusted to the demands of the team and became a modern-day great.
On this, Sehwag stated (10:31):
"Rohit became an opener after Virender Sehwag left. They weren’t finding a replacement and MS Dhoni requested Rohit to open the batting since he had a good technique and he could play his shorts.
"Rohit initially hesitated a bit and after a few innings at the top of the order, he did return to the middle order, but eventually, he found a way and became consistent. Now he has more than 10,000 runs and more than 30 ODI hundreds so he is surely a strong pillar of this team."
Rohit broke multiple records during his innings against Afghanistan, including scoring the most hundreds in the history of ODi World Cups (7).