Indian Skipper Rohit Sharma has now gone 17 ODIs without scoring a Full-century. The 33-year-old since becoming Captain of the national team has seen a relative drop in his batting as compared to his version from (2013-2020). Did the leadership harm his ability or his changing intent has something to do with it?
The premium Opener has been unable to convert the starts he got most recently against Sri-Lanka in the first ODI where he scored 83 runs. Only those 17 runs stood between him and the double figures as he looked to go for a big shot and eventually got caught.
But there is much clarity regarding his Pair at the top and that is Shubhman Gill of course. The 23-year-old Stinger doesn’t have many obstacles in front of him either because he has numbers backing him. In the last 4 ODIs, Gill has scored 70, 21, 116 and 208.
Welcome to the 200 Club, @ShubmanGill 🔥
Congratulations on your Double Century!#ShubhamanGill #DoubleCentury #ODI#INDvsNZ@BCCI pic.twitter.com/biYPXe6FX8
— Dr.Amol Kolhe (@kolhe_amol) January 19, 2023
Realistically, Shubhman Gill as of now seems to be the one opening with his captain in the ICC Cricket World cup later this year. And now the only question that remains is will Rohit Sharma provide that last finishing touch and get back to his template which saw him score so many centuries in ODI.
When Virat Kohli was on a run of matches without any century, Rohit Sharma was firing-blasting oppositions and scored 18 Centuries from 2017-2019. At that time no one else was hitting them Tons as him. And that period he developed into an all-format Batter.
But its been 15 matches since his last Century arrived. He smashed 119 against Australia at Bengaluru and drought has been following him since then. His fifties have also dipped scoring just 4 and 2 of those have come in the space of 3 days.
While his century count has lowered, his strike rate at the top has certainly increased. Last year, he clicked his career best Strike rate of 114.22 and scored 249 runs and this year till now he has clicked 100.57 which is 11 more than his overall career strike rate of 89.6.
It is just time for him to capitalize on the starts he receive. He has shown glimpses but wrong shot selection when he gets to 70 or 80+ has seen him miss out the Triple figures. Little bit of composure towards the end is needed. Do you think a Century is coming in this very series against New Zealand.
