India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak brushed aside concerns over Rohit Sharma’s lean run in the ODI series against England, insisting the veteran opener was under no pressure and attributing his lack of runs to challenging batting conditions.
Rohit made 26 off 43 balls in the second ODI at Cardiff and looked scratchy for much of his innings before Will Jacks dismissed him attempting a sweep.
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“I don’t think that a player as big as Rohit (Sharma) can feel any pressure. He’s too good a player to feel that. Yes, he didn’t get runs. I don’t think that makes any difference. Today also, it looked like he’ll probably get a good innings out. But that’s okay,” Kotak said in the post-match press conference on Thursday.
“I have played a lot of cricket, and I have seen a lot of cricket. On a day, there are a lot of batters who don’t get the momentum they are looking for, and that can happen. You might see a completely different innings from Rohit Sharma at Lord’s. So, I wouldn’t use the word “struggling”. Maybe the shots he normally plays on the up, because of the double bounce, he probably felt they were not comfortable.”
“Shubman (Gill) got a quick start, then Virat got a quick start, but Rohit probably didn’t get balls in his areas or didn’t get going. That’s what I felt. So I wouldn’t say he was struggling because you could definitely see a completely different innings from a player like Rohit. I have seen that happen to a lot of batters. So it’s not just Rohit. I wouldn’t use the word “struggling,” he added.
The former Saurashtra batsman also dismissed suggestions of a communication gap between Virat Kohli and head coach Gautam Gambhir, saying there was no need for a bridge between the two.
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“Virat and Gautam, they must have talked 10 times today. I don’t think he needs a bridge. Virat, basically, before going into batting, talked about certain things. Honestly, as a batting coach, till the time he doesn’t feel anything or he doesn’t see anything, his batting shouldn’t be disturbed. You shouldn’t say much because of the way he bats. Mainly, about how his footwork was going and certain things, he asked me before. Then, after the nets, we were talking. Apart from that, what you’re saying, I don’t know where the rumours come from, but they do come,” he said.
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On batting first on the Cardiff surface, Kotak said that Kohli had sent a message across to the dressing room about the short deliveries not going through on the surface and admitted that Washington Sundar’s injury, followed by the quick dismissals of Axar Patel and Shivam Dube, derailed India’s innings.
“When there is double pace or double bounce, it’s more about adapting better. Everybody knew because Virat, while he was batting, sent a message to us and also told the head coach that the short balls were actually not going through. So, we knew. Personally, I felt that Washington’s injury happened when he ran the first run towards mid-off. It looked like a hamstring injury, and it looks like a bad injury. Then, the next ball, he got out. From there, we again wanted a partnership, but unfortunately, we lost Axar and Shivam.”
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“That is the only thing I feel. In the second half, the wicket may have gone a little slower, and Joe Root just stayed on the wicket. But I think 233, which is around five and a half an over, if one batter gets 100, I don’t think it’s a big score to chase. If we would have got Root out, it would have been interesting. Or if we had got another 35-40 runs, it would definitely have been interesting,” Kotak said.
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