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Rohit opened for India in all three Tests against New Zealand, but he could only manage to score 91 runs with an average of 15.17 in six innings.
Rohit Sharma scored 91 runs in three Tests against New Zealand. (Picture Credit: AFP)
Rohit Sharma’s batting came under scrutiny after India were whitewashed by New Zealand in a three-match Test series at home. After the third game ended in Mumbai on Sunday (November 3), former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar dissected Rohit’s batting in the bilateral series. The Indian skipper managed 91 runs across six innings, including one half-century.
In the recently concluded third Test, Rohit was dismissed for 18 runs by Matt Henry in the first inning, and he scored 11 runs in the second. Manjrekar spotted the weakness in Rohit’s batting approach in the Mumbai Test. According to the former India batter, Rohit may have lost faith in his defence, which has led him to opt for a counterattack.
“I will never say that he is reckless because he is finding his own way to ensure that he gets runs to get the team to win. He clearly doesn’t trust his defence anymore; you could see that there was a LBW appeal, and that must have just made him feel unsettled ever more,” Manjrekar was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
“The next thing that he (Rohit) looks to do is counterattack, and he did that because the target wasn’t a huge one, and who knows, a couple of shots here and there and he would have maybe replicated that Bangladesh run-chase,” he added.
Rohit appeared to have mistimed his shots on many occasions during the home series against New Zealand. Manjrekar deemed it “a real problem” for the Indian captain, who has showcased a more aggressive approach while playing Tests in recent times.
“He (Rohit) is missing a few of his big hits. There was one in the first Test match as well, where he stepped out and tried to hit the ball out of the ground, so he is mishitting a lot of his attacking shots and he is not trusting his defence enough. So that is a real problem for Rohit Sharma currently,” Manjreakar said.
Not only for his batting, but Rohit also had to face criticism for his captaincy in the home series. Rohit accepted his failure in the post-match presser, saying, “From a personal point of view, I wasn’t at my best with both bat and as a captain; that’s something that’ll rankle me.”
India will next be involved in a four-match T20I series against South Africa, which starts on November 8 in Durban.
