India captain Rohit Sharma explicitly laid emphasis on “looking after” his teammates during a couple of warm-up matches before ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. With injuries to several players not allowing India to zero in on their squad till the last hour, a watchful Sharma doesn’t seem to be interested in adding to their injury woes.
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Therefore, Sharma didn’t mind terming a practice match against the double world champions as a “formality”. In fact, Sharma’s choice of words provided a hint with respect to India’s mindset for these matches.
As a result, fans are advised to not be surprised if the team management continues to experiment with the lineup or calls back batters after them scoring a half-century or even after spending appropriate time in the middle.
Rohit Sharma Had No Particular Reason For Electing To Bat First In A Warm-Up Match Against England
Sharma, who tends to sound a bit casual during such situations, didn’t seem to be entirely convinced with the concept of arranging two injury-prone warm-up matches before a world event. Hence, the 36-year old player clearly mentioned how he wants his bowlers to “stay fresh” before their tournament opener against Australia on October 8.
Sharma, however, also ended up providing (not one but two) rationale behind electing to bat first after winning the toss at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in a pre-match conversation with host broadcaster Star Sports Network today.
“We are gonna bat first. No particular reason. It’s very hot out there. Just want to make sure that our bowlers stay fresh and bowl under the lights which is not gonna be so taxing [for them]. Because we have been playing a lot of cricket of late, just want to make sure that we are looking after them.”
Looking to bat in the afternoon to prevent his bowlers from running around on a hot day, Sharma and other Indian players could well enjoy a day-off considering how it is raining heavily in Guwahati at the moment. With weather gods playing spoilsport minutes before the start of play, it is not for the first such instance regarding Sharma.
Rohit Sharma Had No Particular Reason For Introducing Jasprit Bumrah Late Into The Attack In IPL 2022
During the 15th season of the Indian Premier League last year, Sharma was addressing Mumbai Indians‘ sixth loss in a row in the league stage to host broadcaster Star. Short of answers at a time when MI had almost tried everything, their skipper was clueless as a similar statement had made him face the wrath of their fans.
“There’s no particular reason to it. We try and put team before the individual [Jasprit Bumrah]. They [Lucknow Super Giants] bat quite deep and it is important to hold your key bowlers towards the back end. We always try and keep Bumrah for the back end and it didn’t seem to work out.”
For those who don’t know, Sharma was asked the reason behind introducing fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah into the attack as late as the fourth over. Not that Lucknow Super Giants‘ openers had registered a brisk start but not getting to face Bumrah in the first three overs had allowed them to settle their nerves.
While Bumrah was Indians’ most economical bowler with figures of 4-0-24-0, his late introduction into the attack provided a platform for LSG captain KL Rahul to score his third IPL century in a winning cause. Furthermore, Bumrah not bowling the last two overs of the innings was also a reason why doubters had raised question marks over Sharma’s captaincy 17 months ago.
