XtraTime Web Desk: Former Sri Lanka Captain Kumar Sangakkara has picked Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as two best Indian cricketers of modern era. The left hander compared both Kohli and Rohit with former greats Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, hailing them as the “defining pair” for the Indian team in this era.
“If you look at Rahul (Dravid) and Dada (Sourav Ganguly), both of them are orthodox batsmen. They play beautiful cricket shots and are very technically correct, Dravid may be a little bit more so, but the ability to be as destructive with such rate and precision stroke-making is something that has to be really admired.
“If you take the modern-day game, India has two of the best players in Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who play orthodox cricket but who are just absolutely destructive in any format of the game. You don’t have to muscle the ball or put too much effort or look ugly doing it, they just play good cricket shots and results come,” Sangakkara said on Star Sports’ show Cricket Connected.
The former World Cup winning Sri Lankan cricketer is amazed with the consistency of the two Indian batsmen across formats.
According to Sangakkara, “There is something very special about Virat and Rohit. That fact that rules have changed and maybe run-scoring might have become slightly easier in one-day cricket, but the fact remains that to be so consistent across all formats, he’s so consistent in T20 cricket.”
“It’s incredibly hard, the volume of cricket that India athletes plays. So, I think you have to have a lot of respect for Rohit and Virat but understand that it’s all because of the players that have gone before and have done all the hard work then as well. So, it’s a knock-on effect, so in every era, there’s always a defining pair and in the modern era, its Rohit and Virat for India for sure,” concluded Sangakkara.