"He plays cricket like he’s sitting on a leather lounge chair" - Matthew Hayden defends Rohit Sharma after twin failures in 2nd BGT 2024-25 Test
Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden defended Indian skipper Rohit Sharma after his twin failures in the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Adelaide. After missing the series opener, Rohit registered scores of 3 and 6 in the two innings of the pink-ball Test.
The 37-year-old had been in poor form even before the ongoing Australian series with an average of under 16 in six innings against New Zealand at home. Apart from the low scores, Rohit's manner of dismissal has come under scrutiny.
However, Hayden felt Rohit's ability to make batting easy worked against him when he was dismissed.
The former Australian opener said on Star Sports after play on Day 2:
"One remark quickly on Rohit Sharma. He plays cricket like he’s sitting on a leather lounge chair and reclining with a cup of coffee in his hands. You’ve got to admire the different styles that arrive at Test cricket. Virat Kohli, very hard at the ball, a busy player, really wants to get amongst it. Rohit Sharma’s too easy."
"He’s more in the category of the Mark Waugh’s, the Shubman Gills. They make cricket look easy. It’s very easy for us that makes it as well to make the comments around, well, that was a soft way to get out. But it’s the one thing that we actually admire the most about someone like Rohit Sharma who seemingly does have a lot of time to play," Hayden added.
With India winning the opening Test by 295 runs and the opening stand between KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal putting on a 200-run stand in the second innings of the contest, Rohit slotted himself into No. 6 for the ongoing day-night Test.
However, the skipper hadn't batted as a non-opener in Tests since the 2018-19 tour Down Under.
"He got an absolute jaffa of a delivery" - Matthew Hayden
Matthew Hayden called on the Indian fans to not be too hard on Rohit Sharma, considering the peach of a delivery he received to be dismissed in the second innings.
Australian skipper Pat Cummins bowled the dream fast-bowlers ball that pitched on middle and hit the top of the off-stump to have Rohit castled late on Day 2 under lights.
"Folks, don’t be too disappointed. He got an absolute jaffer of a delivery. In fact, he got a great sequence of deliveries in the short time that he was out there under these lights. And I’ve watched pink ball Test matches as we all have closely for a number of years here. And when it comes to the night game with the new pink ball, it is horrendous. It’s so technically difficult. It exposes everyone and anyone," Hayden said in the same interaction.
Rohit's dismissal appeared to be the final nail in the coffin for Team India, as they finished the second day five down and still trailing by 29 runs to avoid an innings defeat.