Kolkata: Rohit Sharma played a gem of an innings and his maiden ton won Mumbai Indians the match against formidable Kolkata Knight Riders. His fantastic knock not only earned him lavish praises from his teammates, but also from his opponents, with KKR skipper terming it to be an innings that took the match away from them.

"Getting a hundred is always excellent. He batted really well and his partnership with (Herschelle) Gibbs took away the match from us. We had thought of restricting them (MI) to under 160 but Rohit with his innings took away the game," Gambhir said after his team lost out to MI by 27 runs.

"Calling his innings as excellent will be an understatement. It's hard to describe his innings in words," added Gambhir.

Sharma's unbeaten 109 won the hearts of his teammates.

"I have always been a fan of Rohit, having played alongside him for couple of years for the Deccan Chargers. He has taken his cricket really forward.It is really good to see him bat the way he did today," said Mumbai opener Gibbs who partnered Sharma to score an unbeaten partnership of 167 runs.

Gibbs called Sharma along with Virat Kohli as two potential match winners for India.

"Rohit and Virat Kohli are two big players for India who can turn real match winners for India in the years to come. Rohit, however, is technically sound than Virat," said Gibbs.

"It's really good to see Rohit play such an innings. I am glad he scored a century. He never slogged but played good cricket shots. He was really impressive," added Gibbs. (IANS)