Rohit Sharma, the regular Test captain of India, had a very tough start to the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 as they lost the second fixture at the Adelaide Oval in the day-night contest while he also struggled in the middle order of the batting department. The veteran pushed himself down at number six, retaining the successful opening stand of KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
It had been nearly six years since Rohit Sharma walked into that position. He enjoyed a 177-run knock at that place when he made his debut against West Indies more than a decade ago. But since becoming the opener, he has shown incredible patience in the game against the quality bowlers.
When the Nagpur-born walked into the middle in the first innings, the tourists had already lost four wickets in the opening session. The right-handed batter survived the end of the first two hours, even though he was fishing his bat forward against the swinging balls of Mitchell Starc. Later, the Scott Boland delivery trapped him before the stumps.
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Rohit Sharma walked into the conundrum under full floodlights when they lost four wickets in just 17.2 overs with just 86 runs on the board. The right-handed batter started with a superb delivery after surviving a scary short ball followed by the loud shout for leg before the very second delivery. He finally added six runs, seeing the stumps flying against Pat Cummins.
Mathew Hayden backs Rohit Sharma to make impressive return in Brisbane
One of the crazy qualities of the veteran’s batting is how he makes batting look so simple. The former left-handed opening batter of Australia, Matthew Hayden, expressed that the fans shouldn’t be disappointed with the performance of the Indian captain, adding that it’s difficult to play under the pink ball conditions.
“One remark quickly on Rohit Sharma. He plays cricket like he’s sitting on a leather lounge chair and reclining with a cup of coffee in his hands. You’ve got to admire the different styles that arrive at Test cricket. Virat Kohli, very hard at the ball, a busy player, really wants to get amongst it.” Hayden expressed on Star Sports at the end of the second day’s play.
The Queensland batter also admired the ease the opener brings to the table when it comes to scoring runs, besides putting him in the same bracket with Mark Waugh and others.
“Rohit Sharma’s too easy. He’s more in the category of the Mark Waugh’s, the Shubman Gills. They make cricket look easy. It’s very easy for us that makes it as well to make the comments around, well, that was a soft way to get out. But it’s the one thing that we admire the most about someone like Rohit Sharma, who seemingly does have a lot of time to play.” Hayden claimed.
The year hasn’t been easy for the Mumbai batter, who struggled in the previous series at home against New Zealand with just 91 runs in six innings at an average of just over 15, having celebrated only one solitary half-century on his name.
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Matthew Hayden explains that it becomes tough for the batters to deal with the pink ball under floodlights, as it’s technically so difficult.
“Folks, don’t be too disappointed. He got an absolute Jaffer of a delivery. He got a great sequence of deliveries in the short time that he was out there under these lights. And I’ve watched pink ball Test matches as we all have closely for several years here. And when it comes to the night game with the new pink ball, it is horrendous. It’s so technically difficult. It exposes everyone and anyone.” The former left-handed opening batter concluded.