The stalwart right-handed batter Virat Kohli is in the form of his life across all the formats of the game. Virat Kohli though will once again have to carry the burden of the team despite having quality batters present in the form of KL Rahul & Shreyas Iyer. Virat has been a prolific batter over the last decade for India as he was often termed as the run machine by many experts earlier in his career.
Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli will be aiming to disseminate the opposition. It won’t be wrong to say that the selection panel have gambled by dropping the seasoned campaigner Shikhar Dhawan from Asia Cup 2023 squad as the dynamic left handed batter has the knack of performing exceptionally well in ICC events.
Virat Kohli also doesn’t play the sweep shot regularly- Sanjay Manjrekar
Sanjay Manjrekar was having an interaction with Star Sports and made a huge statement and stated that Indian batters don’t play sweep shots very often due to which the opposition captain doesn’t have the pressure of putting an extra fielder in the deep. Sanjay Manjrekar pointed out that Virat Kohli struggled against the spinners.
“It has been a weakness. Indian batters don’t play the sweep shot very often. Virat Kohli also doesn’t play that shot regularly. When you aren’t playing the sweep, the opposition can place a fielder to save singles on the leg side. The opposition captain doesn’t have the pressure to put an extra fielder in the deep,” said Sanjay Manjrekar.
“In modern-day cricket, I believe the sweep is a basic shot, just like how leaving the ball outside the off stump is in Test cricket. We have seen that Virat Kohli, when he was low on confidence, struggled against spinners as he didn’t play the sweep shot,” he added.
Stern test awaits Rohit Sharma & Co
Indian cricket team had won Asia Cup 2018 under the leadership of Rohit Sharma. The tournament was a 50 over one, but we should not forget that Bangladesh almost won a thriller. India’s middle order has been a concern ever since the Men in Blue won 2011 ODI WC under the leadership of head coach Gary Kirsten and skipper MS Dhoni.
If we go with the statements of Rohit Sharma of batting flexibility then we can’t rule out the possibility of Hardik Pandya batting at No.4 or No.5 position as the flamboyant all-rounder has shown great hitting ability over the last couple of years. Batting flexibility can back fire and at the same time can be the missing spark for the Men in Blue ahead of Asia Cup 2023 & ODI WC 2023.
Also Read: Asia Cup 2023: Sanjay Manjrekar Takes A Dig On Rohit Sharma’s Batting Flexibility Remark