Sunil Gavaskar was disappointed to see Rohit Sharma miss out on an ODI century in the third match against the West Indies, saying he wants the Indian opener to finish his international career with more ODI hundreds than his age.Rohit scored 92 off 85 balls, with 10 fours and three sixes, in India’s third ODI against the West Indies. India lost the third ODI after the visitors successfully chased down 352, with captain Shai Hope scoring an unbeaten 162.Rohit had come into the match after scoring a century in the second ODI. With captain Shubman Gill dismissed for one and Virat Kohli out for a golden duck, the ‘Hitman’ once again took responsibility with the bat.Rohit has scored 35 ODI centuries so far. Gavaskar said a 36th hundred in the third ODI would have taken him closer to the milestone he hopes Rohit can achieve before potentially retiring after the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027.“The reason I was disappointed with Rohit getting out on 92 is that he didn’t get a hundred, and he might possibly quit international cricket after the end of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027. And at that particular point of time, when he decides to call it a day, I personally would like Rohit to have more ODI hundreds than his age. Had he gotten a century in the third ODI, he would have moved closer to achieving that feat with his 36th hundred. For me, it’s a special thing when a player’s hundreds outnumber his age at retirement. It shows the kind of career they have had and the standard they have kept for so many years. That is why I really want Rohit to reach that mark. In my last year of international cricket, I wanted to get as many Test centuries as my age, and I got out in the 90s thrice. If I’d got those hundreds, then my centuries would have matched the age of my retirement, which was 38,” Gavaskar said on JioStar, as quoted by news agency ANI.Gavaskar also pointed out that Rohit’s batting approach has changed since the 2023 ODI World Cup. While Rohit continues to score quickly, he now appears to place more importance on staying at the crease and turning his starts into big scores.According to Gavaskar, that approach can help Rohit score centuries at a good rate while also benefiting India and reducing criticism over slow batting.“A slight change has appeared in the batting template of Rohit that he himself set as the captain for the 2023 ODI World Cup, where he was going bang-bang from the first ball, irrespective of the possibility of getting out sooner. Now he recognises that his wicket is valuable. In that 2023 World Cup, he got the team off to great starts, but he’s not a batsman who will score just 30-40 runs. He’s a hundred-maker! And therefore, I’m happy to see him score big runs. Yes, I know he missed out on a well-deserved ton in this match, but he got a hundred in the previous game. So, the fact that he’s recognising that his job as a batter is also to get a hundred, and if he scores big, he gets a hundred in 70-80 deliveries, which is helpful for the team because that is a great scoring rate in a 50-over game and it also keeps him away from the social media critics of slow batting,” Gavaskar said.He finished the three-match ODI series against England with 175 runs at an average of 58.33 and a strike rate of 98.31. He then carried that form into the ODI series against the West Indies, scoring 225 runs in three matches.
