Rohit Sharma has much better technique than Virender Sehwag: Shoaib Akhtar

Former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Ahkhar hailed Rohit Sharmaand went to the extent of saying his technique is much better than legendaryIndia opener Virender Sehwag. Rohit was at his majestic best in the recently-concludedfirst Test against South Africa in Visakhapatnam and his twin centuries firedIndia to a comprehensive win over the Proteas.

Following Rohit's heroics, Akhtar lauded the current Indiaopener and compared him with Sehwag, who was regarded as one of the mostdestructive batsmen ever to grace the game. Ahkhar stated Rohit always wantedto be specialist batsmen across formats for India and he seems to have finallynailed his spot in the longest format after his performance in Vizag.

"Rohit Sharma has a much better technique than VirenderSehwag. Sehwag just had a will and aggressive mindset to hit shots all acrossthe park," Ahkhar said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.

"He (Rohit Sharma) has got great timing, a variety of shotsand elegance. Earlier, he had less passion for Tests as he wanted to be aspecialist batsman for all different formats. Now you can see when Rohit putthis thought out of his mind, he scored a century," the former pacer added.

The speedster also revealed he noticed Rohit's truepotential way back in 2013 and that is when he decided to give him a new name.

"I had asked Rohit to add a G, for Great, before his nameand play with a mindset that he is the best batsman in India," the formerPakistan cricketer said.

Rohit combined with double-centurion Mayank Agarwal to posta record 317-run stand for the first wicket in India's first innings as thehosts amassed 502 runs on the board. Then, in the second essay, Rohit smashed127 runs to become the first cricketer ever to score two centuries in a Test onopening debut.