"A hundred might just be around the corner" - Sanjay Manjrekar on Rohit Sharma failing to convert his starts
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes a century is not far off Rohit Sharma's bat as he sees no signs of struggles in his innings. However, the 57-year-old doesn't mind the Indian captain not getting centuries if India are piling up 350-plus scores frequently.
Rohit Sharma last scored an international hundred during the Oval Test against England in September, while he last reached three figures in ODIs in January 2020 against Australia. The first ODI against New Zealand in Hyderabad on Wednesday saw him perish for a 38-ball 34 as Blair Tickner broke a 60-run stand between the skipper and Shubman Gill.
Speaking on Star Sports, Manjrekar noted that big hundreds have evaded Rohit in recent times, but couldn't figure out why despite being in good rhythm. Nevertheless, he believes the milestone is not too far away.
"I have no idea as to why the big scores are not coming. I don’t see any obvious signs there that he is not batting well. With Virat Kohli, we saw that he was not in the kind of form we expect or what got used to over the years. Rohit Sharma seems to be striking the ball pretty well, goes to 30-40s, 70-80s in the series against Sri Lanka. But the hundreds are evading him," Manjrekar said.
He added that as long as other Indian players were putting up high scores, Sharma has the time to find his elusive hundred.
I don’t have a problem with him not getting hundreds as long as India are scoring 350 and above. A hundred might just be around the corner because there are no obvious signs that he is out of form or struggling," Manjrekar said.
The preceding series against Sri Lanka also saw the 35-year-old miss out on a hundred after getting a couple of good starts. He got scores of 83, 17, and 42 in three innings against Sri Lanka before throwing them away.
"I don’t see any problem with the way he is hitting the ball" - Sanjay Manjrekar
The Indian veteran also observed how precise the right-hander's judgment outside off-stump was before a skier to mid-on sealed his exit.
"I don’t see any problem with the way he is hitting the ball. Today he was leaving a lot of balls outside the off-stump, which made me think he has got his mind set on getting the big score. And then the wicket happened. Mid-on and mid-off were inside the circle. So it’s a huge temptation for somebody like Rohit to try and play a shot like that," Manjrekar added. "As long as India are getting the big scores, the team management wouldn’t be too worried. But, you want all your batters to be sort of get big scores."
The hosts set New Zealand 350 to win after electing to bat first. The Kiwis collapsed to 131-6 before staging a remarkable comeback but fell 12 runs short in the end to concede a series lead. Shubman Gill won the Player of the Match award for his 208-run knock.