Indian skipper Rohit Sharma during the press conference had stated that they want batters to be ready to bat at any position. Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Rohit Sharma can bat in the middle order and can be the unexpected surprise package. Rohit Sharma started opening the batting in the 2013 Champions Trophy under the leadership of MS Dhoni.
India’s batting unit looks a strong one on paper but the absence of Rishabh Pant (*injured) will hurt the side a lot. There have been talks going on that Ishan Kishan would be accommodated in the middle order at No.4 or No.5 position. Ishan Kishan had struck a double century against Bangladesh in the 3rd ODI but hasn’t opened the batting despite achieving a rare feat in the modern cricket.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli coming down the order is a possibility- Sanjay Manjrekar
Sanjay Manjrekar was having an interaction with Star Sports and took a unique stance on Rohit Sharma & Ajit Agarkar’s statement on having flexibility in the batting order. Sanjay Manjrekar stated that the possibility of Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli batting down the order can’t be ruled out given Rohit has batted in the middle order for the first 6 years.
“Rohit Sharma and Ajit Agarkar spoke a lot about having flexibility in the batting order. However, there are a couple of players from whom it could be an issue. Rohit, who is the opener now, played in the middle-order in his first six years. Then there is Virat Kohli, who has played at No. 3 for 99 percent of the time,” said Sanjay Manjrekar.
“When he mentioned flexibility, I felt that Rohit and Virat coming down the order is a possibility. We have seen that Rohit has batted a lot against spinners in practice. He could drop himself down in the order. There is also a lot of pressure on Kohli to bat at No. 4,” he added.
Time for Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma to dictate the terms
The star & dynamic batters Virat & Rohit will have to take responsibility for playing a magnificent knock-in crunch matches. We witnessed how the side succumbed to pressure & eventually lost the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 & 2019 in the semi-final stage and at the same time, we saw how the side was outplayed in Asia Cup 2022.
Since, Shikhar Dhawan is not named in the squad for Asia Cup 2023, all eyes will be on Shubman Gill as the batter had a forgettable Caribbean tour and it won’t be wrong to say that he found new ways to get out which may be a concern for the team. Shubman Gill needs to play his natural attacking brand of cricket rather than getting into the shell as the skipper Rohit Sharma can’t play aggressively from the word go.
Also Read: Asia Cup 2023: “Suryakumar Yadav Should Focus On Defense”- Sanjay Manjrekar