Rohit Sharma scored just 2 runs in the Nagpur ODI.© BCCI/Sportzpics
Another shallow performance from India captain Rohit Sharma left the Indian cricket fraternity scratching its head on Thursday. Up against England in the first ODI of the 3-match series in Nagpur, Rohit failed to get his bat do the talking again, scoring just 2 runs. The manner of Rohit’s dismissal left fans fuming on social media, as the skipper’s barren run extended to the ODI format too. Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, who has been a staunch critic of Rohit and Virat Kohli’s poor performances over the last one year, refused to mince words as he shared his take.
Manjrekar, in a chat on ESPNCricinfo, claimed that Rohit is looking ‘under pressure’ and the Indian team is staring at a big problem if the skipper doesn’t come out of this rut quickly.
“He’ll be disappointed with the way he got out. Clearly there is pressure and if in 50-over cricket he struggles to get runs or get a big score, then you have a problem. Because I maintain that this is the best format for any batter, if you are batting in the top three, to get runs and come back into form. And if we don’t get to see the best of Rohit Sharma in this three-match series and the Champions Trophy, then there is a problem,” the cricketer-turned-pundit said.
As for the match, while Rohit failed to put runs on the board, his veteran teammate Virat Kohli missed the match due to an injury. The trio of Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel was the chief contributor to India’s score as the hosts secured a 4-wicket win in the series opener.
After the game, Rohit seemed pretty content with the team’s win, though he did rue the flurry of wickets India lost at the end of the chase.
“Pretty happy. We all knew we are playing this format after a long time. I thought right from the beginning we played as per expectation. They did start well but the way we came back was superb. We wanted a leftie in the middle. It is as simple as that. We know they will spin it back into the left-handers so we wanted a leftie. Gill and Axar batted brilliantly out in the middle. Nothing specific. Overall as a team I just want us as a team to keep doing the right things as much as possible,” he said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
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