Another useless showing from India’s one-day captain, Rohit Sharma, left the Indian cricket fraternity scratching their heads on Thursday. Faced with England in the first ODI of the three-match series in Nagpur, Rohit failed to get his bat to speak, managing only 2 runs. Social media fans went on a rant regarding the manner of his dismissal, as the captain’s bad luck extended to the ODI format as well. Star India cricketer, Sanjay Manjrekar, once very open in his criticisms of Rohit and Virat Kohli’s poor showing in the past year, refused to hold back his opinion.
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Discussing with ESPNCricinfo, Manjrekar suggested that Rohit appeared ‘under pressure’, saying it would be a huge problem for the Indian team if the captain did not come out of the rut soon.
With Rohit failing to make a mark, his veteran teammate, Virat Kohli, missed the match through injury. The trio of Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, and Axar Patel were major contributors to India’s score as they registered a 4-wicket win in the series opener.
“Disappointment will set in, no doubt. The pressure is on; with 50-over cricket, if one does not get runs or score a big one, then one has a problem. And, as I always maintain, this is by far one of the finest formats for any batter batting in the top three to get runs and herald a return to form. If we do not see the best of Rohit Sharma in this short three-match series and the Champions Trophy, then, thereafter, there is a problem,” the former cricketer turned commentator commented.
“We are really pleased. We all knew it is a format we haven’t played for a long time. Right from the beginning, I thought we played as per expectations. Sure they had a great start, but the way we came back was brilliant. A left-handed batsman in the middle, that’s just it. We know they’ll spin it in against the left-handers, so we needed a left-handed batsman. Gill and Axar batted superbly in the middle as it was. Nothing specific. But all in all, I just want to bring the team together to keep doing the right things,” he stated in the post-match presentation.
