Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has disagreed with India captain Rohit Sharma’s style of batting hard in the early overs, regardless of the personal milestone. Gavaskar said that if Rohit batted consistently for more than 25 overs, he could help the team post a total of more than 350.
Sunil Gavaskar on Rohit Sharma’s playing style:
Speaking to India Today, Gavaskar said, “This is an approach he has been following for the last two years or so. It started around the World Cup in India, and he has been sticking to that formula. He has had some success, though perhaps not as much as his talent should warrant. He is an incredibly talented player with a range of shots that not many others in the game possess,”
“Therefore, from an aesthetic point of view, from a crowd-pleasing perspective-I am not speaking from the team’s point of view-if he bats for even 25 overs, India will be around 180-200. Imagine if they have lost only a couple of wickets by then; just think what they could do-they could reach 350 or more.” the former cricketer added.
Gavaskar further noted that the Indian captain should not be happy with just scoring 25-30 runs, stating, “That kind of impact is match-winning. And I think, as a batter, are you happy with scoring 25-30 runs? You shouldn’t be! So that is what I would say to him: your impact on the team will be even greater if you bat for 25 overs instead of just seven, eight, or nine overs.”
What did Gautam Gambhir say on Rohit Sharma?
Speaking after India’s semi-final match, coach Gautam Gambhir had also talked about the ‘impact’ of Rohit Sharma, saying, “You evaluate from the stats; we evaluate from the impact. As journalists, as experts, you only look at numbers, averages. But as a coach, as a team, we don’t look at numbers or averages. If the captain puts up his hand first, then there is nothing better than that for the dressing room,”
