Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Manchester
Rohit Sharma speaks in a lazy drawl, in a somewhat disinterested manner — it’s as if he’d prefer to be elsewhere, rather than talking cricket. His seemingly disinterested attitude while talking goes well with the cliché of ‘lazy elegance’ that has been attached to his batting by journalists.
He’s elegant indeed, but lazy? No way. You’ve got to be assiduous, very busy, bloody-minded if you’re going to knock 140 off 113 balls. When he rocks back to his back foot and smashes a zinger aimed at his head for a six behind square… Well, that’s not lazy — that’s high-adrenaline, high energy shot struck with beautiful timing. That’s what happened on the sixth ball of the sixth over, bowled by Hasan Ali. Ali seemed to have the idea that bowling short to Rohit would work. Well, not on this less-than-superfast wicket. Rohit saw the ball early; Rohit got into the position quickly but without agitation; Rohit slammed the ball beyond the boundary.
Rohit was to later grin and talk about that ball, and the short balls the Pakistani pace bowlers bowled at him. Well, Ali and Wahab Riaz, for some reason, did try the short stuff at Rohit: 27 balls that were shortish or short of a length, and Rohit took 53 runs from them.
He said later he didn’t have a clue why they bowled short at him, but he wasn’t complaining. “I don’t know what happens in their team meeting, whether it’s to bowl up or bowl short, but I don’t know,” Rohit said. “They started off really well… We know in England, once you’re in, it’s very hard for the bowlers to come back, and there’s not enough room for error. If you make an error, you’re going to get punished. That is pretty simple. We’ve seen it over the years in this part of the world… They did bowl up a fair amount, but then again, as a batsman you are ready to just pounce on it when given or bowl to your strength. So I think it was my strength when someone bowls short to me.”
Rohit did miss his regular opening partner, Shikhar Dhawan, out with an injury, though KL Rahul did a good job in their first-wicket partnership of 136 runs. There were a couple of mix-ups, and the Indian openers got lucky, once when Rohit had committed to a second run and crossed half the pitch, but the run wasn’t on — he would have been a goner for only 12, but the ball was thrown to the wrong end. This can happen with any batting partner, but it’s likelier with a new partner. There was much noise in the stadium, too, but Rohit said he could hear Rahul loud and clear.
“Most of the time I did hear him because both of us have played… Whenever we play in India, there’s 30,000-plus (crowd),” Rohit said. “I think here as well… Sometimes you cannot hear, but you just have to look at your partner and see what he’s trying to do, and just that one glance is enough, I guess, to understand whether he’s trying to take that single or not.”
“But not playing for a long time with him, so there was going to be some miscommunication,” he added.
But overall, Rohit and Rahul communicated very well, mostly with their bats, and their opening stand was the most vital factor in India’s win yesterday.
‘Ready to pounce’
“They did bowl up a fair amount, but then again, as a batsman you are ready to just pounce on it when given or bowl to your strength. So I think it was my strength when someone bowls short to me” Rohit Sharma, India opener
Bhuvneshwar out of next 2-3 games: Kohli
India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been ruled out of at least the next two games after picking up a hamstring niggle during the clash against Pakistan. The paceman walked off the field without completing his third over and skipper Virat Kohli confirmed that he will be replaced by Mohammed Shami in the following games. “Slight niggle (in his left hamstring) for Bhuvi, he slipped on one of the footmarks. He’s out for two, maybe three games, but he should come back for us at some stage during this tournament,” Kohli said. Kohli added that “Shami was raring to go”.
