Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has questioned Rohit Sharma’s approach after his poor performance against New Zealand and Bangladesh. While Rohit could only manage 42 runs in two Test matches at an average of 10.50 against the Tigers, he scored only 91 runs at an average of 15.17 in three Test matches against the Kiwis.
Meanwhile, Rohit adopted an aggressive approach in the last five Test matches, which surely didn’t work. The Indian skipper looked to bail himself out of the trouble by playing a big shot but it led to his downfall. The opener has breached the 50-run mark on one occasion in the last 10 innings.
“If you see this home season, Rohit Sharma scored one half-century in 10 innings and had an average of 13. Sometimes you pay a price for your success if you are compared with your lofty standards. If the average had been 37-38, you might have said that his standard is 55, but 37-38 is not too bad, but we are saying bad because the standard is so high,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
“However, an average of 13, from whichever vantage point you might see, these numbers are worrying, and in that, the number of times he got out to fast bowlers, and the way he got out, there is a question mark. The my way or the highway we talk about, Rohit didn’t use to play like this,” Chopra added.
The renowned commentator highlighted that Rohit achieved success in Test cricket after he started trusting his defense. Rohit scored 368 runs in four Test matches against England at an average of more than 50 in 2021 but hasn’t been at his best in the recent past.
“Rohit Sharma’s new chapter of Test cricket had started because he started loving his defense. He had started liking leaving deliveries. Spending time became a thing for Rohit but now it seems like he won’t do that at all. This started with the ODI World Cup. There also the question was whether you were selling yourself short if you were scoring 45 or 55 when you could score 150,” he said.
“It’s okay. It was white-ball cricket, and the others scored. It is absolutely fine in T20 cricket as others will score once you set the tempo. However, not in Test cricket. You played well against England, you scored 400 runs, which was a decent turnover. That happened because he wasn’t hitting every ball,” Chopra observed.
Rohit is expected to miss the opening Test match against Australia due to personal reasons.
