Whenever a batsman does something great or scores heavily he is invariably compared to the legendary Sir Donald Bradman. Well, all through his career the iconic Sachin Tendulkar faced it and now after his Ashes heroics Steve Smith is also being compared to the Australian great.
Those who have not had the distinction of watching the great Don in action are astounded by the numbers. Donald Bradman’s machine-like efficiency has created statistics like never before. And whenever a batsman scores heavily, comparisons quickly come into play irrespective of who the opposition is.
Rohit Sharma, who has been given a second lease of life as an opener in Test cricket, however, now has matched one of Bradman’s great feats. Rohit Sharma scored an unbeaten 115 against South Africa to take his tally to 884 runs in 15 innings at home at an average of 98.22. Well Bradman has exactly the same average at home. In the 50 innings that he played on Australian soil, Bradman scored 4,322 runs at exactly the same average. Incidentally this is the highest average for any batsman after playing 10 or more innings at home.
Well having the same average doesn’t necessarily put Rohit Sharma on the same pedestal as the legendary Don Bradman. But then matching one feat of the great Don will certainly act as an inspiration to the Indian batsman and spur him on to greater heights.
In fact, being unbeaten may help Rohit to past the great Don’s average albeit temporarily. It should be mentioned here that Don had the average after playing 50 innings. For Rohit to maintain the same ‘home success rate’ will take a Herculean effort. But as long as he is in the same group with Sir Donald Bradman, he can always have a smug smile of his face.
Well done Rohit Sharma.
PNN
