He is being encouraged by Indian cricket chiefs to return to the opening, but Rohit Sharma may avoid being affected by outside noise and be in for at least the third Test, starting against Australia in Brisbane this weekend. Can remain at number six. Rohit, who was on paternity leave during the opening Test and scored 3 and 6 on his return during the ‘pink ball’ game, is facing demands to return to the top of the batting order in place of KL Rahul, Who also had a chance. Indifferent game in Adelaide after his heroics in Perth. If one looks at Rohit’s statistics in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia), his average across all batting positions in 46 completed innings is less than 30, while his score in 20 innings as an opener is 37.8. Successful English summer of 2021.
When PTI spoke to the BCCI Level 3 coach, who has previously worked at the National Cricket Academy, he analyzed Rohit’s technique on the technical aspects of the ace player’s game and said that there is an opening for the Indian captain at the moment. Why can’t it be a good option?
“Rohit Sharma has had very limited footwork throughout his career, even when he was at his peak. Obviously, at the age of 37-and-a-half, the reflexes have slowed down,” the qualified batting coach told PTI. And he’s been choosing lengths of late.” On condition of anonymity.
“The same Rohit will look very different in the IPL, where you can still see him scoring 70 off 35 balls for Mumbai Indians while the opposition has at least some home bowlers in the mid-130s. “
But then why is number 6 better for Rohit in the third Test? Koch has a technical response to this.
“If you look at Rohit’s dismissals in India too, he is getting out more often. The reason for this is that his front-foot stride is getting shorter with age. For example, if you If you have a pronounced -foot side, let’s say three feet, you are able to cut down the angle of deviation of the delivery from the surface.
“But if your stride is just a foot and a quarter, you are allowing the same ball to shape in or out. So, a world-class bowler will attack both your inside edge and your outside edge,” says the coach, who There is also a coach, the former opening batsman explained.
He then gave his reasons why it would be better for Rohit to play at number 6 at the Gabba.
“To be fair, if your stride is small and your reflexes are getting weaker, the pink Kookaburra will make it even harder for you to survive. I think KL said before the game that it’s better than the red Kookaburra. Comes very fast and slips out of the surface.
“With his current footwork, the Red Kookaburra will again run around and seam towards the Gabba if he opens up. If he comes in at No. 6, there is every possibility that it will be either old or with a pressed seam. There will be a semi-old Kookaburra and it won’t do much.
Elaborating on his point, he said, “He can play his traditional attacking game and score runs quickly. If he comes in to take the second new ball, it means both (Mitchell) Starc and (Pat) Cummins Has bowled 25 odd overs.”
But then Rohit was quite successful in England during the 2021 tour when he scored his only Test century in the SENA country – 127 at The Oval. If one looks at his performance in that series, the front foot stride to cover swing and seam movement was more evident than in the last few Test matches.
Also, in England, the ball wanders at a larger angle than in Australia and at times even small steps can cause the ball to miss the edge.
Former national selector Devang Gandhi offered a more clear explanation.
“Just compare the stance of Rohit and Virat Kohli. Rohit has a wide stance and his stride will not be wide. Virat has a narrow stance and hence as you see, the front foot stride is obvious.
He said, “Talking about Rohit’s batting, number 6 is the right decision for the team management. There is not enough data in SENA countries to show that he has had tremendous success as an opening batsman.”
Earlier, former coach Ravi Shastri had said that he wants Rohit to come to the top because he looks quite buried in the middle order.
“That’s why I want him at the top. That’s where he can be aggressive and expressive. Looking at his body language, he’s a little more subdued,” Shastri told Star Sports.
Sunil Gavaskar also repeated the same thing.
Shastri said, “The fact that he didn’t score, I don’t think there was anything special on the field. I just wanted to see him more involved and a little more lively.”
“He should return to his regular place. We should remember why Rahul opened. He did it because Rohit Sharma was not available for the first Test,” Gavaskar said on ‘Sports Tak’.
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