Indian Cricket Team fans (ICT) would be delighted not because of the victory in the 5th Test match against England but the skipper Rohit Sharma smashed a terrific ton in the 1st innings. At the same time, Rohit Sharma‘s tactics and field placements were quite spot on where he made life harder for English batters with his astute captaincy.
The Men in Blue made a strong statement that the side can also win without the former skipper Virat Kohli who was on a leave citing personal reasons. It won’t be easy now for the veteran batters Cheteshwar Pujara & Ajinkya Rahane to make a comeback in the national team after the rise of Sarfaraz Khan & the debutant Devdutt Padikkal who looked unperturbed.
England on the other side would be stunned by their performance as losing the Test match inside 3 days doesn’t sound good and that too an innings defeat of 64 runs. The ultra-attacking approach ‘Bazball’ didn’t succeed in India and now questions are raised over the duo of Brendon McCullum & Ben Stokes. England’s batters lacked mental toughness in tricky situations where they should have played out a particular phase of the game rather than going berserk which back-fired.
We saw the 2.0 batter as soon as Rohit Sharma became a Test opener- Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra was seen having an interaction with Colors Cineplex. Aakash Chopra pointed out that Rohit Sharma started his innings quite cautiously which somewhat allowed the dynamic right handed batter Shubman Gill to play his natural attacking game. Aakash Chopra said that Rohit now likes defensive brand of cricket.
“He actually batted very cautiously. It wasn’t that he was set on 50, so he should start from there. He was giving himself time at the start. In fact, when the partnership was 100, Shubman Gill was the dominant partner. He had scored 65 and Rohit had scored only 33,” said Aakash Chopra.
“It’s not important which player scores how many runs. It’s important till where you can take that innings. The most beautiful thing that has happened in Rohit Sharma’s career was when he was made Test opener. We saw the 2.0 batter as soon as he became a Test opener. He has fallen in love with his defense,” he added.
Rohit Sharma keeps defending calmly- Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra pointed out that the skipper Rohit Sharma is well aware of the fact that when he can hit the ball into the stands. Aakash Chopra said that there is a change in the mindset of Rohit Sharma. Aakash also stated that consistency of Rohit Sharma as an opener is quite praise-worthy.
“Rohit Sharma keeps defending calmly when he knows very well that he can hit the ball into the stands while standing at his position and whenever he wants. However, he doesn’t go to that approach very early and doesn’t go as repeatedly as he probably used to earlier. It was just a shift in mindset,” said Aakash Chopra.
“The consistency he has got as an opener since then is praiseworthy and it’s necessary for a captain as well. A captain cannot demand respect. You say that you have shown it by doing it and the others can follow in his footsteps,” he stated.