'Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma most defining pair of modern era' - Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara lavishes high praise on Indian duo

Former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara has said that the Indian pair of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli is the defining pair of modern cricket. Lavishing high praise on the swashbuckling Indian duo, the former Sri Lankan captain said that there is something special about Kohli and Rohit while adding the level of consistency both of them have maintained is incredible. 

Kohli, who has an average of 60 across formats including 43 centuries is phenomenal. Whereas Rohit had a blockbuster 2019 while scoring 1490 runs including five tons in the World Cup 2019. 

“There is something very special about Virat and Rohit. That fact that rules have changed and maybe run-scoring might have become slightly easier in one-day cricket, but the fact remains that to be so consistent across all formats, he’s so consistent in T20 cricket. It’s incredibly hard, the volume of cricket that India athletes plays,” Sangakkara said on the Cricket Connected Show.

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“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.”

Putting the pairing of Ganguly and Dravid beside Rohit and Kohli, Sangakkara said the latter is more dangerous due to the precise stroke-making while adding the quality has to be admired as they don’t play unorthodox cricketing strokes in a bid to find runs. 

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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,” the former wicketkeeper-batsman added.

“If you take the modern-day game, India has two of the best players in Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, 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.”