Something very special about Virat & Rohit: Sangakkara on 'orthodox but destructive' duo

Former Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara termed the duo of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as the most defining pair for India in modern-day cricket who were orthodox yet destructive. The ex-Lankan skipper opined that there was something special about both Indian skipper Virat Kohli and vice-skipper Rohit Sharma as the duo had vast expertise & gained experience by playing in all three formats of the game constantly. Sangakkara compared the duo to the likes of Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly and pointed out why they were better than the players of the era before them. 

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'Orthodox yet destructive'

"There is something very special about Virat and Rohit. That fact that rules have changed and run-scoring might have become slightly easier in one-day cricket, but it's incredibly hard, the volume of cricket that India athletes play," Sangakkara said on Star Sports' 'Cricket Connected'. 

"So, I think you have to have a lot of respect for Rohit and Virat but understand that it's all because of the players that have gone before and have done all the hard work then as well. 

"So, it's a knock-on effect, so in every era, there's always a defining pair and in the modern era, it's Rohit and Virat for India for sure."

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"If you look at Rahul and Dada, both of them are orthodox batsmen. They play beautiful cricket shots and are very technically correct. Dravid may be a little bit more so, but the ability to be as destructive with such rate and precision stroke-making is something that has to be really admired."  

"If you take the modern-day game, India has two of the best players in Virat and Rohit, who play orthodox cricket but who are just absolutely destructive in any format of the game. You don't have to muscle the ball or put too much effort or look ugly doing it, they just play good cricket shots and results come," he concluded.

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'Postpone it to another year': Kumar Sangakkara

Former Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara reckons that the ICC T20 World Cup will not happen this year. The seventh edition of the showpiece event in T20 cricket is scheduled to be held in Australia in October-November. However, reports have stated that the event will be canceled due to the global pandemic. A final decision regarding the same will be taken by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on June 10.

“Everyday, there are new learnings, new things being found out, so we will have to wait and see, but the options may be to cancel it this year, postpone it to another year, but to have in place anticipatory procedures that take into account health and safety of both the players and the spectators, and make sure that’s iron clad,”said the former Sri Lankan skipper on on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.

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