Rohit Sharma's grace comes with a downside: David Gower

NEW DELHI: The fact that Rohit Sharma is able to occupy the crease for long periods of time is one of the biggest reasons behind his success in international cricket, according to former England captain David Gower.

Gower said that while Rohit plays with a lot of grace, none of it would have mattered had he not been able to stay at the crease for long enough.

"(Mahela) Jayawardene and anyone with a certain grace at the crease -- no-one gets to see that grace if you get out. It is one of the great truisms of cricket that you can only make runs if you're at the crease. So, Rohit has to stay at the crease. I had to stay at the crease. Mahela had to stay at the crease. The great players of all time, whatever their style and grace, had to stay at the crease in order for people to appreciate them," Gower told Cricket.com.

"At the moment, we see his (Rohit's) talent on show all the time because he makes stacks and stacks of runs so the work comes in to actually make sure that you have the determination, the ability, the technique, the calmness and the concentration -- all the things you need to actually occupy the crease for long enough to make those runs."

Gower said that this grace however comes with a downside. "As Rohit has probably found out as well, that if you make it look easy when you get out, the natural assumption for people watching sometimes is that you don't care, that you're too relaxed or it doesn't matter," Gower said.

"It looks as easy getting out as it does hitting the ball for four. All you can do under those circumstances is say 'look two days ago I got a hundred, that's what I'm trying to do every day, just because it didn't work is not because I'm not trying'"