Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has said that four to five years back, Rohit Sharma was still willing to run singles or twos between the wickets while going for the big shots as well, but that game is out of his system now, as the India skipper looks to go for the big hits more.
Rohit had the additional responsibility of staying at one end in the middle overs after his trademark initial big-hitting in the powerplay in the final of the Champions Trophy against New Zealand.
Manjrekar explained how Rohit Sharma’s ability to play a long knock may have ended because of the change in approach.
“Four years back, Rohit Sharma would have looked to play the big shots. But, in between all that, there would be that willingness to pick up singles, rotating strike and then taking on the spinners and after 100, he would just take off,” Manjrekar said while speaking on ESPNCricinfo.
“But that game is clearly out of his system now. So, what you get with Rohit Sharma if he continues playing 50-overs cricket is the first 10 overs with the bat and, later on, staying long enough to take on the spinners,” Manjrekar added.
Rohit was pinned down by the spinners in the middle overs and was stumped while trying to take on Rachin Ravindra in the 27th over. He scored 76 runs off 83 balls, recording seven boundaries and three sixes, to be adjudged Player of the Match in the final.
Rohit has made it a point to embrace the ultra-aggressive template in his reign as skipper, and the approach has reaped the rewards for India in white-ball cricket.
“It’s not natural to me, but it is something I wanted to do, and when you’re trying to do something different, you need the backing of the team and the management. They were right through with me,” Rohit said.
“It was all about getting that backing, and it was something I wanted to do. I’ve played all these years in a different style, but I wanted to try and see if we could play differently and get the results we were looking for,” Rohit added.
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