Former Indian fast bowler Varun Aaron showered praise on Rohit Sharma after India suffered a 27-run loss in the third ODI against England at Lord’s on Sunday. It was earlier reported that Rohit would play his final ODI game at Lord’s, but he answered the critics in style.

Rohit scored a magnificent knock of 138 runs off 110 balls in the third ODI at the iconic venue on Sunday as he became the first Indian batter to score an ODI century at Lord’s. However, his efforts went in vain as India could not chase down a gargantuan total of 388 runs and fell short by 27 runs in the end.

The veteran batter scored 17 fours and five sixes in his blistering knock as he batted at the top of his game. 

“What should I say? Questions were being raised even in the Australia series. He scored a century after the first two games there as well and has scored a century here also. You need experience in overseas conditions. When Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were batting on this slow wicket, it didn’t seem like batting was difficult,” Varun Aaron said on Star Sports.

Aaron highlighted that none of the other Indian batters were able to get going on a slow pitch after Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s dismissals.

“However, as soon as both of them got out, no other batter was able to find rhythm because the conditions were very tricky. No batter is a machine that he should score runs match after match. Anyone can fail in two matches. In my opinion, this was one of the best innings of Rohit in a very long time,” he added.

The SRH bowling coach noted that Rohit is scoring his runs at a lower strike rate as India is mostly playing in overseas conditions.

“In the last period after the Champions Trophy, India have played an Australia series and an England series. So, obviously, when you look at Rohit’s numbers, you are going to see his strike rates are slightly lower because he is playing in overseas conditions, which help the fast bowlers,” he said.

The former pacer added that an opener needs to bide his time before changing gears in an ODI.

“As an opener, you have to bide your time. You have to take your time right up top to make sure you are set, and then explode. That’s what Rohit Sharma has done. You have to play conditions. You just can’t go on basic stats. There has to be some sort of context that is put into those stats,” Aaron observed.

Rohit will be next seen in the ODI series against the West Indies in September.