Indian skipper Rohit Sharma has opened up on attacking batting approach against Sri Lanka in the ODI series, which the visitors lost by 2-0. Rohit was India’s best batter in the series, top-scoring with 157 runs in three games at an average of 52.77.
More importantly, Rohit scored his runs at a blistering strike rate of 141.44 and added pressure on the opposition bowlers from the get-go in the Powerplay overs.
However, India’s middle order could not deliver the goods as they crumbled against the Sri Lankan spinners like nine-pins.
“My personal effort was to ensure that I score as many runs as I could,” Rohit said in the post-series press conference, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. “It was not as if I wanted to throw my wicket away after the powerplay. I wanted to continue the momentum and intent, but I unfortunately got dismissed while trying to play a few shots. My batting plan is pretty simple and straightforward.”
“I knew that the runs that will be scored during the powerplay will be critical. I knew that the wickets will get a little slow after that, the ball will turn a bit and even the field is spread out. When there are only two fielders outside the ring, we had to take our chances. I took those chances whenever I felt that I could put the bowler under pressure. All the runs that you score over and above that, it benefits the team to play the remaining 40 overs,” he added.
Rohit added that Sri Lankan batters didn’t use their feet as much as India expected. The hosts batters used the sweep shot against Indian spinners in the third ODI.
“They were consistent with sweeps, taking their chances,” Rohit said of Sri Lanka’s batters in the same interaction. “There weren’t a lot of runs scored down the ground. They didn’t use the feet as much as we expected. It was about using sweeps and piercing that deep square leg and midwicket field. That is something we failed to do as a batting unit. We didn’t play enough sweeps, reverse sweeps, or paddle sweeps, and used our feet too much. That was the difference.”
India will next host Bangladesh for two Test matches and three T20Is.
