Former India player Parthiv Patel said that Rohit Sharma’s slightly lazy footwork caused him to his dismissal on Day 3 of the second Test between India and England. Rohit was bowled for 13 as India put up 255 in their second innings in Visakhapatnam on Sunday, February 4. England finished the day at 67/1, needing a further 332 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

During a discussion on Colors Cineplex, Patel said: “The way he was batting against Joe Root in the first over, we didn’t see the proactiveness that was seen in Shubman Gill’s batting. The energy was not seen in his footwork. He could have easily placed the ball and taken a single but that got carried forward and that is why Jimmy Anderson deceived him. The way he got out, you see a technical error.”

He again shared, “He did an initial movement and after that, we didn’t see any movement. Generally, one movement is followed by another movement. Either you use your back foot or you take your front foot further forward but you didn’t see any foot movement from Rohit Sharma after the first movement.”

However, Rohit Sharma played a maiden over off Joe Root’s bowling at the beginning of the third day’s play. He was bowled off the second ball he faced in the next over from the speedster James Anderson before he could manage to score a single run on the day as well. Parthiv Patel also claimed that Rohit Sharma’s lack of footwork made James Anderson’s delivery seem unplayable as well.

“The ball was definitely good and was at a good spot as well, but if he had used his feet a little more and gone a little further forward, he probably could have played that ball. It wasn’t an unplayable delivery,” Parthiv Patel concluded.