Risk-taking Rohit trying to find the right balance

In a candid admission, Rohit Sharma explained that he was still working on finding the right balance when it came to taking risks.

Over the course of the last couple of years, the Indian management has emphasised on improving its strike rate in order to keep up with the likes of England and Australia. The approach has worked at times, but it has also pushed batters to take risks without accounting for timing. 

Rohit, who is closing in on 10,000 runs in ODIs after 244 innings, has been guilty of the same on a few occasions when he has started steady but ended up losing shape in his desire to switch gears. It’s a unique problem because Rohit has never really had an issue accelerating and at the right time too, his big centuries are a testament to this skill. 

“In the last two years, I have played a different style of cricket, I have played taking a lot of risks,” he said on the eve of India’s Asia Cup opener against Pakistan in Pallekele. “I have to find that balance. I need to understand when to take risks and when not to. As a top-order batsman, it’s important to get the team to a good position. I need to learn to get into the rhythm and then play the long game better. I was taking more risks the last year, but I failed to bring balance in doing so. I will try and do that now.”

Rohit then got into defending the place the Asia Cup holds to teams from the sub-continent, saying, as a standalone, the tournament offers plenty, and that it leads to the World Cup having little bearing on its stature. 

“This (the Asia Cup) is by no means a fitness test,” he shot back. “This is a crucial tournament for all of us and we take it very seriously. It has so much history and it has given us such good cricket. All that fitness work in prep for the World Cup was done in Bengaluru during the camps. Now, the focus is on playing this tournament for what it is and then heading to the World Cup with leanings from here.”

As for the team itself, the Indian skipper didn’t divulge the players he intends to pick ahead of the tie, not surprising, but he said the team itself, especially the pace unit, is in fine fettle and can be expected to do well. But he did add that he hoped they would stay fit in the days to come. 

“(Mohammed) Shami, (Mohammed) Siraj and Jasprit (Bumrah), especially Bumrah who is coming back from an injury after such a long time, played in Ireland and looked good. And the small little camp we had in Bangalore, he looked good as well,” he said. “The team is in good spirits so it’s a good sign for us. To have all three quicks in good shape, a good frame of mind is always a good sign. So, hopefully, you know, they can keep themselves fresh throughout these next two months.”

As for the overall set-up, Rohit said he was pleased with this problem of plenty, rather than scurrying to fit slots at the last moment. 

“I would rather have this kind of a headache than have no headache (laughs). It's always nice to have a good pool of players to choose from. It’s gonna be quite a challenging task for us to make the playing XI because of all the competition in the side. But, again, that’s a very good headache to have,” he explained. “So I will hope that all these players, all the 15-18, we have now here, stay fresh, and that they remain fit throughout the tournament and throughout the next two months.”

Kohli struck by a Siraj bouncer

Virat Kohli was struck on the body by a bouncer from Mohammed Siraj during India’s evening practice session at the Pallekele stadium on Friday. The former skipper was quick to put up a thumbs-up and get on with the session. He didn’t bat for much longer though and returned to the pavilion where he was seen exchanging pleasantries with a couple of Pakistani cricketers.  While the episode wasn’t worrying at first glance the team will do well to steer clear of any injuries given how many issues they have faced the last few months.