‘Rohit bhai Shikhar ko le aayie’ – Fans react as Rohit Sharma recalls his younger days of batting at number 7 in Indian team
Rohit Sharma batted at number 7 for the first time after 12 years in ODIs
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Jul 28, 2023 2:43 pm
Rohit Sharma (Source: Twitter)
India won the first ODI of the series against West Indies in Bridgetown by 5 wickets. Although India had to fight hard for chasing 115, they had a lot of positives from the match. The Indian bowlers bowled very well. Hardik Pandya and Mukesh Kumar started well with the new ball. Shardul Thakur bowled well as the first change bowler.
Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav ran through the middle order and lower order of West Indies respectively. As a result, West Indies were reduced to a total of just 114 runs. From 88/3 at one stage, West Indies lost their last 7 wickets for just 26 runs in 45 deliveries. The mayhem in the middle overs was rather unexpected.
Promotion of batters up the order
Since the target was not big, the Indian captain Rohit Sharma decided to give chances to the inexperienced batters. The 36-year-old, along with Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, did not bat till all the youngsters got their chances. Ishan Kishan was promoted to open the innings with Shubman Gill. Suryakumar Yadav batted at 3 and Hardik Pandya batted at number 4.
Ravindra Jadeja came at number 5 and Shardul Thakur batted at number 6. It was after all these batters that Rohit Sharma entered the middle, at number 7. For the first time since 2011, Sharma batted at number 7. In fact, Rohit started his ODI career as a batter at number 7. Virat Kohli was not required for the run chase, as the other batters finished things.
Speaking about so many promotions in the batting order, Rohit said he wanted to try out different things. “We wanted to give them the game time to the ODI guys who have come in, we will keep trying those things whenever possible,” said Sharma. He further continued and recalled his younger days. “I made my debut for India and was batting at number 7, reminded me of those days,” said the Indian captain, as he saw off the chase for India.
Here’s how the fans reacted to Rohit Sharma’s comments:
