Gautam Gambhir makes big statement; 'Rohit Sharma is a better player than Ricky Ponting'

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir is known for being very outspoken about his views and opinion, be it cricket or politics. Gambhir has now garnered everyone's attention by saying that the current India skipper Rohit Sharma is a better player than Australia's two-time World Cup-winning captain Ricky Ponting. Speaking ahead of the 2nd ODI between India and Sri Lanka, Gambhir said that Rohit is a better player than Ponting because the latter has got forgettable batting stats in Asia. 

Rohit Sharma is a better player than Ricky Ponting: Gambhir 

Gambhir made the comments in presence of former India international Sanjay Manjrekar, who looked visibly shocked by what the cricketer-turned-politician said about a decorated player like Ponting. Manjrekar was particularly appalled with the kind of word Gambhir used to describe Ponting's record in the sub-continent. Ponting has won two ICC Cricket World Cups for Australia and is regarded as one of the best batsmen to play the game. Ponting is currently third on the list of highest run-scorers in ODIs. 

"In last four or five years he [Rohit] has scored these many centuries. Rohit Sharma before five or six years was not that consistent so imagine in the last five or six or seven years, he has got more than 20 hundreds. And he is a better player than Ricky Ponting. He is a better player than Ricky Ponting because Ricky has got a s**t record in the subcontinent," Gambhir said during a pre-match discussion on Star Sports.

Rohit Sharma has improved his ODI game significantly in the past five-six years, scoring a record-shattering 21 centuries since 2016. Five of those centuries came in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 alone, which is still the record for the most centuries by a player in a single edition of a World Cup. Rohit has scored a total of 29 centuries in the format and is just one hundred away from equalling Ponting's record of 30 ODI tons. 

Gambhir faces backlash over tweet on SKY

Gambhir recently faced backlash for his tweet on Suryakumar Yadav. After Suryakumar scored his third T20I century, Gambhir called for his inclusion in the Test side as well. Fans not only trolled Gambhir for what they said was an unreasonable demand but they also fired some credible arguments to dismiss the former India opener's tweet. One user pointed out that Suryakumar is already 32 years old and playing in all three formats for India might hamper his white-ball game. 

Image: PTI/AP