Rohit Sharma’s rapid knock drove India to a six-wicket victory over Australia in shortened second T20I in Nagpur. The India skipper hit an unbeaten 46 off just 20 balls, taking his team past the finish line while chasing 91, with the game being reduced to eight overs a side due to wet outfield on Friday. Known for his elegant strokeplay, Rohit was aggressive from the word go as he hit three monstrous hits off Josh Hazlewood in the opening over. He then smashed a Pat Cummins slower ball into the stands and hit Adam Zampa over long-off to add another six under his belt.
Legendary Sunil Gavaskar dissected Rohit’s quick-fire 46 and pointed out how he stuck to his strengths for a ‘measured’ batting approach, where he was selective with his shots instead of trying anything different.
“What you saw with Rohit today was a measured approach. It wasn’t anything where he was looking to defend, but he was being a lot more selective. And look, when he is playing those flick shots or the swivel pull shots, he is very good at that. Where he gets into trouble is where he is looking to play on the off-side, just tonks it up like that, that’s where he hits the ball up in the air rather than into the stands. That’s the only thing that he is going to watch out for,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
“Otherwise, when he is hitting it in his range, he has got absolutely no problems at all. That’s what he should be looking to do. Today was such a measured innings. He was waiting, cutting the ball, pulling, he was not going bang straight away. That is the reason why he batted so brilliantly,” he explained.
