“Cruel ground for bowlers”: Harsha Bhogle condoles New Zealand bowlers in 3rd ODI at Holkar Stadium, Indore

India opening batters Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill have scored individual half-centuries in the ongoing third ODI against New Zealand in Indore. Considering both Sharma and Gill’s recent form, them putting together another opening partnership in excess of 100 runs isn’t surprising by any means.

Having said that, a distinctive feature of this partnership between Sharma and Gill is the brisk rate at which both the right-handed batters are milking runs against an already struggling visiting team.

An impact-generating first powerplay saw India scoring 82 eye-catching runs in the first 10 overs. A significant head-start was followed by the two batters scoring another 83 runs in the next 10 overs in spite of fielding restrictions getting lifted.

Harsha Bhogle condoles New Zealand bowlers in third ODI at Holkar Stadium, Indore

Frequent boundary shots on a flat pitch at the Holkar Stadium has already provided hints of India potentially breaking a record-breaking ODI innings total. India, who don’t have any entry in the Top Five highest ODI innings totals, have a golden opportunity of doing the same today.

That said, the same wouldn’t be possible without Indian batters treating New Zealand’s bowler with utter disrespect. It is noteworthy that the possibility of the same has already started to be considered among experts and fans across social media platforms.

ALSO READ: What is the average ODI innings totals at the Holkar Stadium?

Legendary commentator Harsha Bhogle, part of the a star-studded commentary panel for Star Sports, observed the partiality of this stadium towards batters. Terming it to be “cruel” for bowlers, Bhogle’s eight-word tweet perhaps defined the whole situation perfectly.

For the unversed, Indore has always been a high-scoring venue. Not that there haven’t been below par ODI innings totals but both the highest successful ODI run-chases here have come in high-scoring contests. Additionally, former India batter Virender Sehwag and Sharma have the distinction of registering an ODI double century and a T20I century respectively at the Holkar Stadium in the past.