'He Might Look Casual But He Has a Great Cricketing IQ': Umpire Anil Chaudhary Hails Indian Captain Rohit Sharma

The Indian Cricket umpire, Anil Chaudhary seems to be a big fan of the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma. The veteran match official praised Rohit for his immense batting abilities recently which caught the eyes of many people on the internet.

Anil in an interview with Shubhankar Mishra on his YouTube channel, revealed how much he enjoys watching the Indian opening batter with the willow. But he also gave a warning to Rohit’s opponents to underestimate him even when he shows a carefree attitude.

“You might think that Rohit (Sharma) is casual. But he is a smart player. Don’t get into the belief that he is a forgetful guy. His cricketing IQ is very good. It’s called cricketing IQ meaning the understanding of the game and he is very good in that aspect,” said the Indian match official.

“(On Rohit forgetting what to do at the toss) that is all fine, might be an odd incident. Look at his batting, you get an idea there itself. He makes bowlers look like they are bowling 120 kph but when someone else is facing the same bowler it might look like it is 160 kph. He has a great sense,” he added.

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Anil Chaudhary also revealed an interesting insight that umpiring someone like Rohit is an easy task. He believes that Rohit does not give the match official any tough decisions as he likes to play with full intent.

“I’ll tell you one more thing, when it comes to players like Rohit, umpiring becomes easy. He is either out or not out clearly. He doesn’t give too many tough calls for us as umpires. Which is great for us,” Chaudhary commented.

“He is a natural and his footwork is also very good. He never comes forward to hit, he always waits for the ball and hits it. There is also one more thing call ball-sense which he is really good at. He knows which delivery to go forward and which to go back at. Look at his short-arm pull shot,” he commented.

Anil was also part of the umpiring team that officiated the game when Rohit scored his iconic 264 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata against Sri Lanka back in November 2014. Anil recalled this period and lauded Rohit’s idea of the game.

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“I think I was the TV umpire for one of his games. I think he scored 200+. Even the deliveries that were yorkers he was hitting them for sixes. I think the match was in Calcutta. He is a different class of player. Again he might look lazy but he has a good idea. He also has a good idea of swing. The day he is in his flow, he is a one-man army,” Anil Chaudhary shared.

“Batting-wise he is class. I really like it when he is batting. His captaincy is also good, not denying that but his batting is like music. If you’re watching from outside, you will have to watch him bat, he is that good. He hits that kind of shot. Towards the covers and all,” he added.

The Indian captain has gone on to lead the team to glory. Most recently he led the Indian side to win their second T20 World Cup title by beating South Africa in Barbados following which Rohit announced his retirement from T20 internationals. Now he will gear up once again as he will lead India in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh at home.