Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar showered praise on Rohit Sharma after the Indian captain scored a brilliant knock of 131 runs on the opening day of the third Test match at Rajkot on Thursday. Manjrekar said Rohit went back to the traditional method of mental toughness.
Rohit could not get a big score in the first two Test matches and he looked tentative in his approach against Mark Wood and James Anderson. However, the Indian opener showed patience and was able to get through the tough phase.
In fact, India was reeling at 33-3 but Rohit added a crucial alliance of 204 runs with Ravindra Jadeja, who also scored a fine knock of 112 runs. Rohit also had the rub of the green on his side as he was dropped by Joe Root when he was on 27 on the bowling of Tom Hartley.
“Rohit also felt it cannot be only defense against this kind of tactic and opposition. Earlier on he took a couple of chances and was lucky Root dropped him once. After that he went to the traditional method of mental toughness which was really admirable,” said Manjrekar on ESPN Cricinfo.
Manjrekar lauded Rohit for keeping the big shots at bay and batting responsibly on the opening day.
“Because these are players who hit sixes for fun and Ben Stokes had the field in for the spinners, so to restrain yourself from doing something you can do so easily for hours together is something that I marvel with these players who have the gift of power but hold it back because it makes sense and is important to the team at that stage,” added Manjrekar.
After being reduced to 33-3, Manjrekar added India needed a big partnership of 200 rather than 100.
“India needed a 200-run partnership rather than just a 100-run partnership. Because when you take that partnership out, there was nothing much there. Sarfaraz Khan was a pleasant bonus. But India was playing with a very inexperienced batting lineup and 3 wickets at the top was India in real trouble and England having a huge advantage. But the pitch will hold the key. Even though India is in much safer waters now , how much England will get on that pitch is impossible to predict,” said Manjrekar.
India is currently 354-7 with Dhruv Jurel and Ravichandran Ashwin at the crease.
