Mumbai: Sunil Shetty on Saturday slammed the criticism being leveled against the performances of cricketers Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma after their match-winning innings against Australia in the third ODI in Sydney.
Sunil Shetty took to his Instagram handle to praise the two star Indian cricketers for silencing critics with their performances.
Taking a dig at Virat and Rohit’s critics, Sunil Shetty wrote, “It’s strange how quickly we forget the records, the fights, the pride, the tears, the sacrifices. Two games and suddenly everyone is a critic.”
Virat along with Rohit Sharma stitched an unbeaten 168-run partnership as India avoided a series whitewash and ended the series on a high note by defeating Australia by nine wickets in the final ODI in Sydney.
Praising their performance, Sunil Shetty wrote, “They heard the noise. They read the doubt. They stayed quiet and let the bat do the talking. Because legends like Rohit and Virat don’t need to prove a point – they are the point.”
The superstar batting duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli provided a memorable batting spectacle for the Indian fans as they stitched a 168-run partnership during the win in the third Sydney ODI, equaling Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly for the joint-highest partnership of over 150 runs in ODIs.
Rohit-Virat duo, who have made 19 partnerships of 100 or more runs in ODIs, have now overtaken Rohit and Shikhar Dhawan (18 such partnerships in 117 innings) in terms of the third highest partnership of 100 or more runs in ODIs, they have achieved 19 partnerships in 101 innings.
At the top is the pair of Sachin and Ganguly, who have made such partnerships 26 times in 176 innings, followed by the Sri Lankan pair of Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara (20 partnerships of 100 runs or more in 108 matches).
Talking about the match, Australia won the toss and decided to bat first. A 61-run partnership between captain Mitchell Marsh (41 runs in 50 balls with the help of five fours and a six) and Travis Head (29 runs with the help of six fours in 25 balls) provided a good start for Australia.
Matt Short scored 30 off 41 balls with two fours and a 59-run partnership between Matt Renshaw (56 from 58 balls, with two fours) and Alex Carey (24 from 37 balls, with one four) took the Australians to 183/3. But from there the Australian team was reduced to 236 runs in 46.4 overs.
Chasing a target of 237, India got off to a solid start with a 69-run partnership between Shubman Gill (24 off 26 balls, two fours and a six). From there, something that fans had been waiting for throughout the series happened, as Rohit Sharma (121* from 125 balls with 13 fours and three sixes) and Virat Kohli (74* from 81 balls with seven fours) stitched together an unbeaten 168-run partnership to win the match with nine wickets to spare.
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Rohit also won the ‘Player of the Match’ award and ‘Player of the Series’ award for top-scoring in the series with 202 runs, including one century and one half-century.