Manjrekar Slams Rohit Sharma for His Poor Form: Cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar slammed India captain Rohit Sharma over his lackluster form in the ongoing Australia vs India Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Rohit, who has played 3 innings so far in the series, has a single-digit average of 6.33, scoring just 19 runs.
Rohit was also an absolute failure with the bat in India’s last home series against New Zealand, in which the Kiwis whitewashed the hosts.
Sanjay Manjrekar Slams Rohit Sharma for His Poor Form
Manjrekar thinks that the Indian skipper has lost his confidence, and his defense has been getting breached by the bowlers so often, even on home pitches. He was talking to ESPNCricinfo.
“He is short of confidence with self-doubts. And a bit of a rude shock when he played in that home series against New Zealand and his defense was getting breached on Indian pitches.” [0:17]
Manjrekar also mentioned Rohit’s brilliance in the 2021 England series and said that that level of defensive game has been deserted from him.
“So for someone, who in 2021 when he had that terrific series in England, and scored a strike rate of 42, which is a bit Pujara-like and the entire series he batted for about 21 hours. This was a new discovery for all of us and now when he has to bring that game back, he just can’t find the defensive game. So that’s where the problem lies – Just gone to pieces, his defense,” Manjrekar said.
“I remember commentating on that series (2021 England) and kept saying ‘this is Pujara-like’, the way he was grinding away. And I thought it was the rebirth of Rohit Sharma, the Test cricketer, who got those two centuries in his first two Tests. I also felt this is his true calling, this is what he loves to do – which is playing for time like a typical Mumbai batter.”
Rohit Sharma, whose natural style is playing risky attacking shots, has been struggling with the high-level bowling of Australians. He also couldn’t do much against Kiwis in India with that style.
“He has got that big game. In South Africa, he had that one innings where it was a small target and they went after the bowling and Rohit Sharma looked really good. But in a Test match in Australia with the kind of bowlers he is contended with, all bowling superbly, it is not easy to take those guys on because his shots are really high-risk shots. He tried that in the home series against New Zealand as well, just to put the bowlers off but got out playing the attacking shot,” Manjrekar said.
Manjeakar also pointed out that Rohit loses shape when he tries to get big shots. The former cricketer said that it was in the Afghanistan Series that he saw the India skipper lose his shape for the first time.
“The other thing I noticed was during the T20I century against Afghanistan ( earlier in the year). I saw for the first time in his entire career as a white-ball batter, when he was playing the big shots, he was losing shape,” said Manjrekar
“Though the ball was going into the stands, still you never see Rohit Sharma losing shape or balance. And that was starting to happen then so I just believe that has also contributed to his defence and attacking game as well – that sturdiness he has as a foundation to his batting,” Manjrekar added.
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