Gambhir reflects on 'Ro-Ko's experience, feels "sky is the limit" for Jaiswal if he cracks ODI tempo

Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) [India], December 7 (ANI): Following his side's series win over South Africa, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir reflected on the experience of senior stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and hailed young batters Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal for making the most of the opportunity they got with a maiden century in ODIs each in the series.

It was a total dominance by the Indian batting unit in the ODI series against South Africa, which India won 2-1 courtesy of a fiery performance by 'Ro-Ko' and centurion Jaiswal at Visakhapatnam.

Virat ended as the top run-getter in the series with 302 runs at an average of 151.00 and a strike rate of over 117, with two centuries and a fifty. Rohit also scored 148 runs in three innings at an average of 48.66, with an SR of over 110 and two fifties. While these two legends led from the front, youngsters Gaikwad and Jaiswal also registered their maiden centuries in the series, after some initial struggle.

Speaking about the experience of Rohit and Virat and the value it has in the changing room, Gambhir said during the post-match presser, "They are quality players. I have said it many times as well that they are world-class players. The quality players in this format and their experience is really important in the dressing room. And they are doing what they do. They have been doing it for such a long time for Indian cricket. Hopefully, they can continue doing the same, which is always going to be important come the 50-over format."

On Jaiswal and Rutu getting their centuries and making use of the opportunities they received in absence of skipper Shubman Gill and middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer due to injuries, Gambhir said, "It is important that t young boys coming into the setup are grabbing their opportunities Someone like Rutu who has batted out of position, but he is a quality player, we all know. But we wanted to give him an opportunity in this series, because the kind of form he was in with India A. And he actually grabbed that opportunity with both hands, getting a 100 in the second game. And when we were under pressure, actually we were 40 for 2. And then getting that kind of a 100 was proper quality."

"And Yashasvi as well, we have seen how much quality he has, especially what he does in Test cricket. And obviously, it is just the start of his career, especially in white-ball cricket. Hopefully, he has a massive future ahead, and so does Rutu," he added.

Gambhir also pointed out that one should know the right template to play ODIs, and splitting the format into two - one phase of 30 overs and the other phase of 20 overs - makes things easy. He also voiced out that if Jaiswal understands the tempo of the ODI format, "the sky will be the limit for him."

"If you play 30 overs only in one-day cricket, and the quality that Jaiswal has, if he bats 30 overs, there is no doubt that he will be batting close to 100, and even after 30 overs, you have 20 overs, which you can see in a T20 match. So I think it is only about finding a template, and he was playing just his fourth game. The moment he figures out with what tempo he has to bat in a 50-over format, I think the sky is the limit for him," he concluded.

Coming to the match, India won the toss and put SA into bat first.

The Proteas lost Ryan Rickelton for a duck, and an 113-run stand between Quinton de Kock (106 in 89 balls, with eight fours and six sixes) and skipper Temba Bavuma (48 in 67 balls, with five fours) followed.

Quinton also had a 54-run stand with Matthew Breetzke (24 in 23 balls, with two sixes), and the Proteas stumbled to five wickets down for 199 runs, with Prasidh Krishna (4/66) causing some mayhem. Dewald Brevis (29 in 29 balls, with two fours and a six) and Marco Jansen (17 in 15 balls, with two fours) tried to counter-attack, but a fine spell from Kuldeep (4/41) sunk them to 270 all out in 47.5 overs from a solid position of 234/5.

India chased down the target in 39.5 overs, with Rohit (75 in 73 balls, with seven fours and three sixes) putting on a 155-run stand with Yashasvi Jaiswal, who got his maiden ODI ton.

Jaiswal, who ended with 116* in 121 balls, with 12 fours and three sixes, had put on another century stand with Virat (65* in 45 balls, with six fours and three sixes) to end the series in a dominant fashion. (ANI)

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