Rohit Sharma is an exceptional batter, I’m a huge fan: Lockie Ferguson

New Zealand's Lockie Ferguson. (Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP)


New Zealand speedster Lockie Ferguson has said it is challenging to bowl to Rohit Sharma as the Indian batting ace picks up the length very quickly.

In an interview with Sportskeeda, Ferguson was asked to name the batsmen he finds difficult to bowl at. “Good question, there’s quite a few. Rohit, I’ve found him very challenging,” Ferguson said.

“With him, if you don’t get him out quickly, he tends to go big. He picks up the length very quickly and where my strengths lie, batters play the wrong shot. He’s a world-class batter,” Ferguson added.

“Rohit, I’m a huge fan of him, I think he’s an exceptional batter.”

The Kiwi gun-quick also added Australia stars Steve Smith and David Warner alongside India captain Virat Kohli to the list.

“Steve Smith, David Warner, Virat Kohli — these guys are world-class for a reason. They’re always tough to bowl at but it feels good when you knock off the top order and have a chance to get to bowl to the middle order or the lower order,” Ferguson said.

“We are 100 per cent back to normal in New Zealand. We are very fortunate,” he added on the COVID-19 situation back home.

Ferguson helped New Zealand reach the World Cup final in 2019 where they lost by the narrowest of margins to England.

“For many reasons I was feeling things were not quite going my way (before the World Cup). It was nice to get the wickets in the tournament. The bowling group was fantastic throughout. I got the bigger chunk (of wickets) than some of the others but as a bowling unit we did very well,” he said.

Ferguson bagged 21 wickets in the tournament and finished behind Mitchell Starc as the second highest wicket taker.