Virat Kohli greatest ODI player of all-time, Rohit Sharma in top-five: Australia captain Aaron Finch

Australia captain Aaron Finch reserved the highest praise for India captain Virat Kohli and vice captain Rohit Sharma. Finch referred Virat Kohli as probably the greatest ODI player of all time and placed his deputy Rohit Sharma in top-five after their brilliance led India to a series-clinching 7-wicket win in the 3rd ODI at Bengaluru on Sunday.

Rohit (119) scored his 29th ODI hundred and Kohli made 89 off 91 balls on Sunday. The No.1 and 2 ranked ODI batsmen shared an important 137-run stand for the second wicket that turned India’s tricky 287-run chase into a cakewalk. India, in the end, finished the match in 47.3 overs with 7 wickets in the bank.

“They’ve got Virat who is probably the greatest ODI player of all-time, and Rohit who’d probably be in the top five batters of all-time. They’re exceptional, and the thing with the Indian side at the moment is their experienced players are getting the job done in the big games,” Finch said.

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Stressing on the greatness of Rohit and Kohli, Finch said what stood out was that India overhauled the 287-run target with ease despite opener Shikhar Dhawan not coming out to bat due to a shoulder injury.

“Rohit’s 100, especially without Shikhar there tonight, for them to shuffle and their two most dominant players to still get majority of the runs is a sign of a really settled and really quality top-order,” said Finch at the post-match media interaction on Sunday night.

Australia could not get the final flourish they were looking for, mustering only 63 runs in the last 10 overs at the loss of five wickets, far too many in Finch’s view.

“In the last two games we have had the bowlers batting for the majority of the last few overs. Which we saw in Rajkot the damage that KL (Rahul) could do in the back end because he was a settled batter. I think that’s an area we just missed a couple of tricks. “Just not having an in batter being in and having faced 20 or 30 balls to get us deeper and get us to the back end,” Finch said.

He also praised India’s death over bowling at the same time.

“But credit to India, their death bowling in the last few games was exceptional. (Mohammed) Shami was nailing his yorkers, (Navdeep) Saini in the last two games and (Jasprit) Bumrah. In both games they were exceptional. You can look at where we could have improved but also you’ve got to give some credit to India,” said Finch.

(With PTI inputs)