Follow UsRohit Sharma hailed Ravichandran Ashwin as an all-time great after the off spinner surpassed Kapil Dev's tally of 434 Test wickets to become India second highest wicket-taker in red-ball cricket on Sunday.
"He is an all-time great in my eyes. He is playing for so many years and performed for the country. So many match winning performances, so for me he is an all-time great. People might have different point of views but from where I see, he is an all-time great for me," Rohit said at the virtual press conference after the first Test win over Sri Lanka at Mohali.
"It's a big thing in his cricketing career to achieve that feat you know. When you grow up wanting to play Test cricket, you don't dream about these things and so to surpass that is a big achievement on his behalf. You know, I have been watching Ashwin for a long time now and every time I watch him, he seems to get better and better," he added.
The offspinner achieved the feat in just 85 Tests, 46 less than the legendary allrounder. Rohit praised Ashwin's mentality to win games for the team.
"Ashwin is one such player who always has confidence is in his ability in what he wants to achieve and for the team as well," the skipper said.
Rohit said he couldn't comment on why the offspinner has often been overlooked when India plays overseas Tests.
"Really, can't tell you anything about his overseas place and why doesn't he find it and why is he in not in the eleven," Rohit said.
"Obviously, I have no idea as I wasn't part of the selection at that point and I can't tell you what happened and why was he left out and why didn't he play and those kind of stuff," he said.
Jadeja to batter higher up the order?
Rohit also hinted at playing Ravindra Jadeja higher up the order in the near future after the allrounder scored a career-best 175 not out alongside claiming nine wickets in the match.
"Every time I see him, he is improving and is very open minded about his game. When I asked him during the T20 series if he could bat up the order, he was ready. We all know how good his bowling and fielding are. I would like to utilize his batting a bit more."
India had dropped Cheteshwar Pujara for the series which saw Hanuma Vihari promoted to the No.3 position who scored 58 in the first innings. Rohit refused to predict the future for the Hyderabad batter.
"We are not so certain about the future. We understand what is right at this particular point of time. At the point of time our No.3 is Vihari and he did pretty well."
India skittled out Sri Lanka within four sessions to win the match by an innings and 222 runs. When asked if he considered a flawless performance by the team, the Indian captain said: "I think so, but I have been part of Test matches in India where we had scored big runs and wrapped up the opposition with an innings left. This is definitely one of them."