"There are certain knocks that stay with you" - Abhishek Nayar's massive praise for Team India star after AUS vs IND 2025 2nd ODI

Former India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar hailed Rohit Sharma for his fighting knock in the second ODI against Australia at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday, October 23. Admitting that the Hitman was not at his fluent best in the match, Nayar opined that Rohit will remember the knock for its resilience.

Australia beat India by two wickets in the second ODI in Adelaide. Sent into bat, the Men in Blue put up 264-9 on the board. Rohit top-scored with 73 off 97 balls, hitting seven fours and two sixes. The veteran batter struggled for rhythm in the first half of his innings, but looked a lot more assured in the second half.

Speaking on ‘Cricket Live’, JioStar expert Nayar praised Rohit for hanging in there even when the going was tough and not throwing his wicket away. The former all-rounder said (as quoted by Deccan Chronicle):

"As a player, you might forget some of your big hundreds or double centuries, but there are certain knocks that stay with you, especially the ones where you’ve had to fight hard. Rohit Sharma may not remember this innings for the runs he scored, but knowing him personally, he’ll take great satisfaction from it. As a batter, when you make runs in tough conditions, it gives you a different kind of joy. "Rohit might be disappointed for not converting it into a big score, but deep down, he’ll know he worked hard for every run today. His resilience stood out... Despite being constantly tested, whenever he got a loose delivery, he made the most of it. That intent, combined with grit, defined his innings," he added.

Batting first, Team India lost skipper Shubman Gill for nine, while Virat Kohli registered his second duck in as many games. Rohit and Shreyas Iyer (61 off 77) then added 118 runs for the third wicket to lift India.

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Rohit Sharma becomes Team India's 3rd highest run-getter in ODIs

During the knock on Thursday in Adelaide, Rohit became India's third highest run-getter in ODIs. He went past Sourav Ganguly's tally of 11,221 runs. The former India captain now has 11,249 runs to his name from 275 ODIs, averaging 48.69 at a strike rate of 92.62, with 32 hundreds and 59 half-centuries.

Rohit also went past Ganguly on the list of Indian openers with most runs in ODIs. The Hitman now has 9,219 runs while opening the batting for India, while Ganguly scored 9,146 runs while opening the innings.

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Edited by Renin Wilben Albert