Former South Africa captain Shaun Pollock has said an interesting analogy to praises, Rohit Sharma. Pollock said that he bats almost like he’s driving an automatic car, where he isn’t rushed about changing gears and concerned about how to pace his innings only as well.
After returning from a hamstring injury, Rohit Sharma played a quickfire 50-run knock off just 51 balls against the West Indies in the first ODI in Ahmedabad. His innings, studded with 10 fours and a six as well.
While speaking on the show “Cricbuzz Chatter” after the game, Pollock said: “He seemed in really good touch… He scores so freely on both sides of the surface. It’s the cut, it’s the square drive, he just flicks one leg side, the pickup pull goes all the way and there’s not a particular area where you feel like you can cramp him for his style or tie him down. And he has got lots of time. He’s faced the best in the world, he’s faced the quickest in the world and he doesn’t even seem rushed when he plays against them.”
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Shaun Pollock further added: “It’s like driving a car – suppose your first six months you are pretty rushed to change the gears, you are thinking about a lot of things. He’s almost operating in an automatic role where he’s just worried about the accelerator and how hard to push it. He does look like a guy who’s come into his own and I don’t think the responsibility of captaining will affect the way he plays at all.”
However, this was Rohit Sharma’s first match as India’s full-time white-ball captain. India needed a win following their 3-0 whitewash against South Africa last month and in their 1000th match in the format, they won it as well. Meanwhile, wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik, who has played both with and against Rohit Sharma, also said that Rohit Sharma makes batting look a “little easier than it’s supposed to be”.
Karthik said: “Yeah, he’s a special batter. Over a period of time, he’s shown the cricketing world how good he is. He makes batting look a little easier than it’s supposed to be. You always get the feeling that he has a little bit of extra time in his hands which is a lovely feeling to have as a batter and a very pleasant sight to watch. In the last four-five years, he’s grown leaps and bounds, to say the least. He’s conquered a lot of demons and become a terrific, terrific cricketer for Team India. The fact that he’s captaining now, he’ll shoulder more responsibility and I am sure he’ll take India to greater heights.”
Shaun Pollock also compared India’s two young wicketkeepers – Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan after the team’s six-wicket win over West Indies on Sunday. While batting at No.4, Rishabh Pant scored 11 (9) and Ishan Kishan, who opened the innings, scored a stable 36-ball 28, including two fours and a six as well.
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“I think sometimes we might be a little critical of Rishabh Pant who tends to be a little one-dimensional when it comes to the way he plays. He likes to be very aggressive and even if the situation doesn’t dictate that he has to do that, he goes about it the same way… I think I was quite impressed that he managed to reign himself back,” Shaun Pollock further added.
“The situation didn’t require him [to go after the bowlers]. We know he can do that role, we’ve seen that in the IPL, in the T20s. But it’s good to see a guy of that age being able to adjust to what’s required of him in the match and being able to say, ‘Okay, well my partner is going at 100 miles an hour, no real need for me to take risks; I’ll wait for the bad ball and do my job from there,'” he expressed.
Meanwhile, Dinesh Karthik also shared his views on Ishan Kishan’s approach during the same interaction. He was impressed with his defensive game and how he “ticked a box” by limiting his game as per the situation. However, they will next play at the same venue on Wednesday, February 9.
Karthik said: “With Ishan Kishan what was good to see was [him] bringing his defensive technique to the fore, not taking too many risks and just playing to the situation and playing a beautiful second fiddle role to Rohit which obviously was the need of the hour… He’s just ticked a box in a sense that he made sure there was a partnership that was required and he’s put his hand up and did what was required for Team India.”
