Michael Atherton feels Rohit Sharma is a 'naturally gifted' player; Know why

Former English skipper Michael Atherton has revealed why Rohit Sharma is the best example of a naturally gifted player. Rohit has a record three double-centuries in the 50-overs format and four tons in T20I cricket. Sharma's score of 264 against Sri Lanka in 2014 at the iconic Eden Gardens remains the highest individual ODI score to date.

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'Such a good player': Michael Atherton

While speaking to a daily publication, Atherton went on to say that Rohit just looks such a good player that one had thought that success will come.This was answered by the Englishman regarding Sharma's ability to translate his outstanding form in white-ball cricket to Test cricket.The ex-English skipper then mentioned that the one thing that he does enjoy watching about Indian batsmen is that they look very natural to him and are not over-coached and forced or stilted. 

Atherton, who had led England in the 1996 World Cup added that once he was having a chat with former Indian skipper and batting great Rahul Dravid a couple of years ago where he had asked him why he felt that India’s players looked more natural and less forced than England’s at that (international) level to which Dravid replied that it was because India’s cricketers play the game all-year-round and because of the weather in England, a lot of English players spend six months indoors on bowling machines and thus it can look a bit forced after that i.e. a bit overcoached.

Furthermore, the cricketer-turned-commentator/analyst also added that the champion batsman felt a lot of India’s young batsmen were learning on the job rather than being coached personally. The Englishman then said he always enjoys watching Indian batsmen on the field because they look very natural and fluid. He concluded by saying that there is no better example than Rohit Sharma himself. 

Coming back to cricket, the 'Hitman' was all set to represent the defending champions Mumbai Indians in IPL 2020 that was originally scheduled to get underway on March 29, but has now been suspended indefinitely due to the global pandemic. Meanwhile, India's next two away bilateral limited-overs series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe have also been called off due to coronavirus fear. 

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(Image Courtesy: AP)