For the first time in his illustrious career, veteran Indian opener Rohit Sharma is heading to an ICC World Cup as the leader of the Men In Blue. Often regarded as one of the best openers in the modern era, Indian captain Rohit is tasked to end Team India's title drought at the grandest stages of them all - the ICC World T20.
Rahul Dravid-coached Team India has endorsed the fearless brand of playing cricket ever since Rohit replaced Virat Kohli as the all-format captain of the Men In Blue. India have ticked all the right boxes under Rohit's leadership in the shortest format. However, Rohit has struggled to convert his starts into meaningful individual scores.
Known for smashing daddy hundreds, Rohit has notched up only two half-centuries in the 2022 season. Rohit's ultra-attacking approach has often failed to pay rich dividends. Sharing his views about the batting style of the Indian skipper, South Africa all-rounder Lance Klusener has opined that Rohit should focus on playing his natural game.
The South African icon feels there is no need for Rohit to launch an all-out attack on bowlers in the powerplays. “I’m not sure, whether he’s been told to play differently or whether it appears that, or the fact that possibly he hasn’t been as consistent as he would like in the last 25-30 games. But my advice to Rohit would be just to continue how he has been doing in the past,” Klusener told News18 CricketNext.
{{/usCountry}}The South African icon feels there is no need for Rohit to launch an all-out attack on bowlers in the powerplays. “I’m not sure, whether he’s been told to play differently or whether it appears that, or the fact that possibly he hasn’t been as consistent as he would like in the last 25-30 games. But my advice to Rohit would be just to continue how he has been doing in the past,” Klusener told News18 CricketNext.
{{/usCountry}}“There’s no need for him to go faster. He was playing easily fast enough, aggressive enough and well enough, not to have changed. So if there has been, some sort of message to him or whatever it is, I think you need to be very careful, especially with your established match winners that role might need to go to somebody else if you’re looking to increase the run rate or take advantage of the power play," he added.
Rohit has recorded two ducks in the 2022 season. The all-format opener has scored 540 runs in 23 matches this season. Averaging 25.71, Rohit is the second-highest run-getter for Team India this year. Rohit-led Team India will meet arch-rivals Pakistan in their World Cup 2022 opener on October 23.
"I think the way Rohit plays he’s a match-winner in that department and the way he goes about his things, and he’s proved that over many years as well. So possibly if they are looking to increase the run rate that does need to go to somebody else,” he concluded.