India captain Rohit Sharma is renowned in the cricketing fraternity for his lazy elegance, and for the fact that he somehow manages to have that extra second before playing a shot. Be it his trademark pull or hook shot, or the ones straight down the ground, his wide array of shots is a sight to behold when he is on song.
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No wonder he is regarded as one of the best white-ball opening batters of his times, having scored at an average of 55.76 across 156 ODI innings and 31.81 across 113 T20I innings at the top of the order.
However, having largely batted in the middle-order during his first two years as Mumbai Indians captain, Sharma required the services of legendary Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga to up his finishing skills with the bat in hand in the slog overs.
How Lasith Malinga Used To Oblige Rohit Sharma’s Request Of Bowling 5 Yorkers In The Nets
Malinga, who had been a crucial part of MI between 2009-2019, played the role of a death bowler with distinction for the five-time IPL champions. Be it the Indian Premier League or international cricket, a crucial weapon in his pace bowling arsenal was the pin-point accuracy of his yorker deliveries.
During an interaction with India Women’s batters Smriti Madhana and Jemimah Rodrigues around three years ago, the 36-year-old had revealed how he had made an optimum use of this particular skill which the Sri Lankan pacer possessed. In order to improve upon his hitting ability during the death overs, Indians skipper would request Malinga to bowl at least five yorkers in an over to him in the nets.
While the right-arm pacer would readily agree to the request of his captain, Rohit would practice enough to nail hitting the wide yorkers for a six overs the point region.
“Main Malinga ko request karta tha ki Malinga bhai, mere ko sirf 5 balls daalo. Chaahe aapko pair pe daalna hai to pair pe daalo, lekin paancho balls yorker daalo. To woh bolta tha, ‘Okay, Macha! No problem’. Main usko bolta tha ki off-stump ke baahar daalo yorker, pair pe bhi daalo, aur off-stump pe bhi daalo. To woh jab off-stump ke baahar daalta tha na, to I tried to take that ball on the full, taaki woh bat ke bottom ke just upar lage aur slice hoke jae [I used to request Malinga to bowl me only five balls. You could bowl the yorkers outside the off-stump, on my legs, or at the off-stump. So, when he bowled outside the off-stump, I tried to take that ball on the full, so that it would hit just above the bottom of my bat and I would be able to slice it through].”
It is worth mentioning that Sharma and Malinga have faced each other a total of 19 times across white-ball formats. Across these innings, Rohit has scored 175 (182) at a strike rate of 96.15. Malinga, on the other hand, has dismissed him three times at the highest level.
When Did Rohit Sharma Start To Open For Mumbai Indians?
Rohit Sharma had first opened the batting for Mumbai for just a couple of matches in IPL 2014. However, it was during IPL 2016, when the right-handed batter opened the batting for the entire season (except for a lone match against Sunrisers Hyderabad).
“I would like to open, at least in the initial games. We will see where we stand after the first few games. We have got a great set of batsmen in our squad, so there is a bit of a headache about whom to pick in the XI,” Rohit had said during a Mumbai Indians press conference ahead of the commencement of the season.
With opening batter Lendl Simmons being ruled out of the season due to a lower back injury, Rohit batted at the top for the remainder of the season. However, the very next season, he batted at No. 3 and 4 after England wicket-keeper batter Jos Butter was handed an opportunity to open alongside wicket-keeper batter Parthiv Patel. From IPL 2019 onwards, Sharma has batted only as an opener for the franchise.
Overall, as an opener in the IPL, Rohit has featured across 88 innings for the Indians till date. At an average of 28.08, he has amassed 2,331 runs with the help of 14 half-centuries.
