"He clearly doesn't trust his defense anymore"- Sanjay Manjrekar on Rohit Sharma's dismal showing in India's home Test series whitewash to NZ
Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar felt skipper Rohit Sharma's recent struggles in Tests stem from the lack of trust in his defensive game. His analysis came after India suffered a humiliating 3-0 home Test series whitewash against New Zealand.
Rohit averaged only a tick over 15 with the bat in the three Tests and under 14 over his last five Tests - all at home against Bangladesh and New Zealand. The 37-year-old was consistently dismissed by the Kiwi pacers Tim Southee and Matt Henry even on pitches favoring spinners with little help for the fast bowlers in the final two matches.
Speaking on ESPNcricinfo after the series, Manjrekar stopped short of saying Rohit was reckless in his batting approach but questioned his defensive technique.
"I will never say that he is reckless because he is finding his own way to ensure that he gets runs, to get the team to win. He clearly doesn't trust his defense anymore, you could see that, there was a lbw appeal and that must have just made him feel unsettled ever more," said Manjrekar.
"So the next thing that he looks to do is counter-attack and he did that because the target wasn't a huge one, and who knows a couple of shots here and there and he would have maybe replicated that Bangladesh run chase," he added.
After scoring two centuries in the five-match Test series at home against England at the start of the year, Rohit has registered only the lone half-century in his last 10 innings.
"He is missing a few of his big hits" - Sanjay Manjrekar
Sanjay Manjrekar further dissected Rohit Sharma's recent batting by highlighting the opener's mishitting of attempted big shots, while not trusting his defense.
Apart from his batting woes, the veteran cricketer became the first Indian captain to suffer a home Test series whitewash with three or more matches.
"The shot that he played to get out (2nd innings of the 3rd Test) was where he was trying to hit the ball into the stands rather than just make the connection. He is missing a few of his big hits. There was one in the first Test match as well, where he stepped out and tried to hit the ball out of the ground, so he is mis-hitting a lot of his attacking shots and he is not trusting his defense enough. So that is a real problem for Rohit Sharma currently," Manjrekar said in the same interaction.
Rohit's next Test assignment will be the daunting five-match series in Australia, starting in Perth on November 22.