Echoing the sentiments of many others, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has suggested Rohit Sharma take a little more time in the middle before going all gung-ho against the bowlers.
Even in a format as short as T20 cricket, Gavaskar feels Sharma can afford to take some balls to settle himself as he believes the Indian skipper has the ability to cover it up later on with his range of boundary strokes.
Rohit Sharma has endorsed the newly-adopted aggressive brand of batting in the Indian team in T20Is by himself playing attacking shots from the onset of his innings. However, on several occasions in the recent past, Sharma has “thrown” his wicket away by playing a risky shot while looking for the fence.
Rohit Sharma needs to settle himself first, opines Sunil Gavaskar
The latest instance of this was in the Mohali T20I vs Australia, where he whipped Josh Hazlewood, aiming for the mid-wicket boundary, and didn’t keep his shot down the ground. He only spliced the ball that flew toward deep square leg where Nathan Ellis took the catch, to dismiss Rohit for only 11 runs.
Commenting on Rohit Sharma’s new, aggressive approach in T20Is, Sunil Gavaskar stated, “With Rohit Sharma, the range of shot that he has, he doesn’t really have to do what he is looking to do over here, that is step down the pitch even before the bowler has released the ball.”
“The way he has been playing T20 cricket before that, his scoring and strike rate has been phenomenal. It’s been absolutely terrific. He hasn’t tried to do anything more. Over here, in the last few matches, it just seems to me that he is looking to do a little bit more and, in the process, getting out,” he told India Today.
Should Rohit Sharma change his batting style?
Gavaskar explained that the new white ball only moves for the first few overs, so Sharma could grant himself some time to see through the initial movement of the ball and then take the bowlers head on.
“The white ball might not move as much as the red ball. But there is just that slight movement which can be the difference between the ball hitting the middle of the bat and the ball taking the edge of the bat. So it means it could be hitting the ball into the air rather than into the stands.
“I do believe that Rohit needs to give himself that little more time, he has got all the shots in the book. Even if he gets off to a slow start, he can triple it by the time his innings is over,” the former legendary opener asserted.
Fifties from KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya and 46 from Suryakumar Yadav helped India to 208, a total which Australia gunned down with 4 balls to spare with the help of Cameron Green’s 61 and Matthew Wade’s 45.
The second T20I between India and Australia is scheduled for Friday at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur.
