‘You can’t tell Rohit Sharma to…’: Sunil Gavaskar after India captain’s dry run in T20 World Cup continues

Who would have thought that none of the Indian players would feature in the top 10 of the leading run-getters at the T20 World Cup after the group stage? While the Group A talk focused on Virat Kohli’s no-show as an opener, Rohit Sharma’s cheap dismissal against Afghanistan brought back the old debate about his struggles against left-armers on Thursday. Upset with Rohit’s dismissal against the left-armer Fazalhaq Farooqi, Team India fans sparked a meme-fest on social media during the Super 8 encounter. Does skipper Rohit really have a weakness against southpaws?

Throwing weight behind the Indian skipper, legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar reminded Rohit’s critics of his batting credentials. With over 150 T20Is and 260 One Day Internationals (ODIs), Rohit is among the most experienced batters in the Indian roster. Dissecting Rohit’s wicket after India’s comfortable win over Afghanistan in the Super 8 stage of the T20 World Cup, batting legend Gavaskar downplayed the hype surrounding the dismissal of the Indian skipper.

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‘You can’t really tell Rohit Sharma to change his game’

“He is an experienced batter. He knows what he is gotta do. You can’t really tell Rohit Sharma to change his game because of the angle of the bowler. Yes, sometimes you might say because of the angle – don’t hit towards the on side. Maybe look to play the inside-out shot over extra cover. These are things you try and maybe understand. Sitting up there, you think about all of what you should have done,” Gavaskar told Star Sports after the match.

Underfire Rohit needs to bounce back in World Cup

India skipper Rohit was outfoxed by Afghanistan’s Farooqi in the second over of the Indian innings. Rohit departed for eight off 13 balls, although Team India posted a match-winning total of 181-8 in 20 overs. The Indian skipper has only notched up a single half-century in the ongoing edition of the T20 World Cup. Rohit’s average (25.33) has taken a massive hit after another low-scoring outing at the T20 World Cup. The veteran Indian opener has scored 76 runs in four games at the ICC event.

“For a man who has got tons of experience in limited-overs cricket, you don’t need to. He has got out, yes. At the end of the day, batters have some way to get out. If you get out caught behind, you can’t say you got a weakness against the off stump. If you have scored 10-15,000 runs, and you get out maybe say 40 times outside the off stump, that does not mean there’s a weakness,” Gavaskar added.