Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players'Rohit, Kohli consume lot of deliveries': Saba Karim identifies 'very difficult situation' for Team India
Despite Rohit coming to bat at no. 3 and Kohli at no. 4, both the batsmen had to bat together in the middle against New Zealand as openers Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul failed to fire.
Former India cricketer Saba Karim believes that Team India find themselves in a tough spot in T20 matches when Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are batting together in the middle. Kohli and Rohit were expected to be the opening pair for India at the T20 World Cup, but after sensational performances in the Indian Premier League 2021 UAE leg, KL Rahul was picked to bat alongside Rohit at the top.
Saba Karim believes that because both Rohit and Kohli have an orthodox style of play, whenever they are in the middle together in a T20 game, India's strike rate tends to go down.
India vs Afghanistan T20 World Cup Live Score and Updates
Despite Rohit coming to bat at no. 3 and Kohli at no. 4, both the batsmen had to bat together in the middle against New Zealand as openers Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul failed to fire.
Rohit and Kohli were unable to accelerate India at the point, and were both dismissed quickly soon after. Karim said that the two cricketers must find a way to change their batting style when they are together in the middle as it will help India in the long run.
“One big problem for India is both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are very similar players. They are orthodox players. They try in the middle to accelerate by hitting boundaries or sixes. The problem arises when both get to the crease at the same time, because then the strike rate naturally comes down,” Karim said on the Khelneeti podcast.
“They don't play risk-free cricket. This is not to say they are not good players, but in T20s you need players who play risk-free cricket. Especially when India lose early wickets, they then both try to consolidate. Then they end up consuming a lot of deliveries without improving the strike rate. It’s a very difficult situation for India. Only when these players transform their style of play will it benefit India,” he added.
"No matter what the format, if you only focus on strike rotation and taking singles of all six balls then it won’t do good," he said.
"It may work for one or two overs, but if you just want to rotate strike of five overs, it’s not possible because there are quality bowlers you are facing up against.
"If your mentality is just to take singles and rotate strikes, you can’t even get six runs off an over," he added.
“The maximum you will manage is 4-5 runs in an over, which will see you fall short. So you need to punctuate singles with boundaries or sixes,” Karim signed off.
