Indian captain Rohit Sharma has opened up on consciously taking more risks while batting in ODI cricket over the last few years, even at the expense of a reduced average as well. Arguably one of the best 50-over batters to have played the game, Rohit is the only cricketer to have scored three double centuries so far as well. However, he has struggled to convert his starts into substantial knocks, with the highest score of only 119 since 2020 as well.
In an interview with PTI, Rohit Sharma said, “I wanted to take more risks, which is why my numbers are slightly different now. My (ODI) strike-rate (during this period) has increased but the average has dipped a bit. This is exactly what our batting coach (Vikram Rathour) was telling me, ‘You have scored big runs because of the way you batted all these years and in the last few years, it (big runs) has not happened because you are taking risks,” said Rohit.
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The veteran has also scored only two centuries in 23 innings during this time but he has seen a drastic increase in his strike rate in 2022 and 2023 as well.
“My career strike-rate is around 90 (89.97) but in the past couple of years, if you look at my scores and take the strike-rate into consideration, it has been around 105-110. So somewhere you had to compromise. It is not possible to have a 55 average and a 110 strike-rate,” further added Rohit.
However, compared to his overall career ODI strike rate of 90, Rohit Sharma has maintained a quicker scoring rate of 114.22 and 106.09 in the last two years. So far this year, he has averaged 47.87 which came at a 106.09 strike rate in nine ODIs, with the only century against New Zealand in Indore as well. However, Rohit has been India’s best top-order batter since 2021 in the red-ball format, having an average over 46.50, with four centuries as well.
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“Look at my recent Test innings in India. I can tell you batting in India is much more difficult now than batting overseas, especially in the last 2-3 years. The pitches that we have played on it is more challenging than overseas. That’s why we haven’t spoken about runs and averages of batting unit,” Rohit Sharma concluded.
