Mumbai: Rohit Sharma heaped a lot of praise on his young teammate Nitish Rana, who climbed to the top of the highest run-scorer’s charts in the Indian Premier League (IPL), at the Wankhede Stadium, on Sunday.
The Mumbai Indians captain, who guided his side to their fourth consecutive victory in the tournament, by scoring an unbeaten 40 in a 6-wicket win over Gujarat Lions.
Rana, who came in to bat at no. 3, gave MI the firepower at the top of the batting order, which eventually helped them chase down the target of 177 set by GL.
Speaking about Rana at the post match press conference, Rohit said that he would not change the current batting order, as Rana is currently thriving under the current system.
“I'm not going to change too much of the batting as well, because the guy at no. 3 (Nitish Rana) just got an Orange Cap. I don't want to change his position as well,” said Rohit.
“He's a brilliant batsman, and we’re going to see more and more of him throughout the tournament,” he continued. “He's a fearless cricketer, he likes to take all the bowlers (on) straight away. I think that (no. 3) probably is the ideal position for him to bat.”
When asked about whether he would promote himself back up the order, to the opening position, Rohit said, “I would love to open, but you've got to think from the team's perspective, as well.”
“Being a captain of the team, you've got to find the right balance. And me batting at 4 gives the balance to the team, which we want,” he concluded.
