Batsmen Didn’t Apply Themselves: Rohit Sharma

Indian opener Rohit Sharma has said that the positive approach and intent helped him score runs on what was an extremely challenging wicket to bat on for batsmen from both sides.

As many as 28 wickets out of 30 fell to spin within a space of five sessions as Team India registered a comfortable ten-wicket win against England in the third Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Apart from Zak Crawley in the first innings, Rohit Sharma was the best batsman on show as he smashed a brilliant half-century in the first innings before backing it up with a whirlwind unbeaten knock in the second.

“When you are playing on a pitch like that, you need to have an intent. You need to look to score runs as well. You cannot just keep blocking. As we saw, the odd ball might just turn or skid on to the stumps. It is important to keep that intent, try and use your feet. Try and do as many things as possible to stay ahead of the bowlers. You need to make sure that you try and find ways to score runs. That is all I was thinking. My intent was not to survive. It was to try and score runs while respecting the good balls.” Rohit Sharma said in the post-match conference.

The pitch dished out in the third Test has attracted plenty of criticism for the challenges that it posed to the batsmen. However, Rohit Sharma did not find anything wrong in the 22-yard strip.

When asked about why batsmen from both sides fell like nine pins, Sharma alluded that while batting on such tracks the batsmen need to play with clear intent.

He also reckoned that batting-units from both sides did not apply themselves enough.

“The pitch was an interesting one. The odd ball was just coming in, and some were turning. So, when you are batting on a wicket like that, you need to have a clear mindset, which I did until I played that sweep shot.” said Rohit Sharma.

“Honestly speaking, if you look at the 30 wickets that fell, I didn’t see anything where the pitch played truants. The batsmen didn’t apply themselves. It is from our side also, not just them. As a batting unit, some of the shots we played were not up to the mark.” he added.

Good win for team. Huge compliments to @ashwinravi99 for reaching 400 test wickets and @ImIshant for appearing 100 times in the test cricket. Brilliant feat guys ??

— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) February 25, 2021