India captain Rohit Sharma has opened up about the lack of big scores in ODI cricket, saying the decision to play high-risk cricket at the top of the order in the lead-up to the Cricket World Cup 2023 was his choice. Rohit said he was conscious about playing at a better click at the top to put the opposition bowlers under pressure and he had communicated his decision to the team management.
Rohit Sharma has traditionally been a slow starter, especially when he played those daddy hundreds in ODIs. Rohit hit 27 hundreds, which included 3 double hundreds, before the 2019 World Cup, averaging 48.91 and had a strike rate of 88.65. Since the end of the 2019 World Cup, Rohit has hit only 3 hundreds, scoring 1179 runs at an average of 47.16 and a strike rate of 101.02.
Rohit has gone past the 150-run mark only once since the last World Cup where he hit 5 hundreds. His 159 came against the West Indies in Visakhapatnam and the skipper has scored only one century since the start of 2021.
Speaking to PTI news agency, Rohit Sharma revealed that he had this discussion about the balance between strike rate and average with Vikram Rathour, India’s batting coach.
‘I wanted to take more risks, which is why my numbers are slightly different now,” Rohit told PTI during an exclusive interview.
”My (ODI) strike rate (during this period) has increased but the average has dipped a bit. This is exactly what our batting coach (Vikram Rathour) was telling me, ‘You have scored big runs because of the way you batted all these years and in the last few years, it (big runs) has not happened because you are taking risk,” he added.
Furthermore, Rohit Sharma confirmed that it was his choice and he had communicated that he would look to play more aggressively at the top to the team management.
The skipper added that he is happy with the results he has been able to achieve with his new approach.
‘My career strike-rate is around 90 (89.97) but in past couple of years, if you look at my scores and take the strike-rate into consideration, it has been around 105-110. So somewhere you had to compromise. It is not possible to have a 55 average and a 110 strike-rate.” This high-risk game is also a process of his self-discovery, said Rohit.
”It was purely my choice. My usual batting is still my patent, but I wanted to try something else. I am very happy with the result.” In fact, he had communicated his change of approach to the team management.
