Legendary Indian batter Gundappa Viswanath believes that Indian skipper Rohit Sharma’s blistering start in the powerplay on the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023 has helped the Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli to take his time in the middle and make big runs for the team.
Team India has been able to put their opponents on the back foot from the start of the innings largely due to Rohit Sharma’s explosive Powerplay starts. This has also allowed the following batsmen to gather themselves some time and refrain from taking chances, leading to challenging totals.
Speaking to the PTI, Gundappa Viswanath praised Rohit Sharma for initiating the innings with aggression, saying that the Indian captain has created a pattern for middle-order hitters to follow and that it has encouraged other batters to take their time throughout the game’s middle overs.
“The way Rohit has been giving aggressive starts in the powerplay even though he is not getting big scores like 100 which he is capable of… the other batters are following that pattern,” Gundappa Viswanath said.
“From the beginning, Kohli doesn’t go for sixes, he tries to work it out, for Rohit is setting the base. All know Shubman hits clean and so it is the key for the latter batsmen to come and get going,” Gundappa Viswanath said.
Rohit Sharma is taking the new ball bowlers to task with 550 runs from 10 innings at a strike rate of 124.15, without worrying about his scores in the ODI World Cup. He leads the record of batters with the most sixes and the second-highest number of fours, having a lone century and three half-centuries.
Rohit Sharma Is Capable Of Scoring 150 if Not More, That Should Be On His Mind – Gundappa Viswanath
Gundappa Viswanath urged Rohit Sharma to carry on his form and go big in the finals of the marquee event. He was asked to score more runs against Australia to put pressure on them rather than provide a platform for the middle-order batters.
“This is the final, so he (Rohit) should continue. We all know what kind of batter he is, he’s capable of scoring 150 if not more, that should be on his mind. Instead of giving a platform to other batters, once he gets in and comes closer to powerplay, he should continue, that will help the team and give more worry to the opponent,” Gundappa Viswanath added.
Rohit Sharma has performed exceedingly well for the team in the ODI World Cup 2023 giving the team a much-needed start to the innings, which has helped the Men In Blue to dominate the world-class bowling attacks throughout the tournament and the veteran batter would be keen to continue his fine form against the five-time champions Australia on Sunday.