"This half-century was special" - Aakash Chopra lauds Rohit Sharma's knock in India's chase in the 4th Test vs England
Aakash Chopra has lauded Rohit Sharma for playing a captain's knock in India's second innings of the fourth Test against England in Ranchi.
Rohit scored 55 runs off 81 deliveries and added 84 runs for the first wicket with Yashasvi Jaiswal in India's pursuit of a 192-run target. However, the hosts were subsequently reduced to 120/5 before Shubman Gill and Dhruv Jurel's unbroken 72-run partnership took them to a five-wicket win on Monday, February 26.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra highlighted the significance of Rohit's knock, elaborating (2:05):
"Rohit Sharma has scored more than 4000 Test runs and has played 100 innings. His numbers are good, but despite having scored a lot of Test centuries, this half-century was special because when India needed 192 runs in this match, I was convinced that Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal were extremely important."
The former India opener opined that the hosts wouldn't have chased down the target if they had lost an early wicket.
"If they gave a good start, India could have won the match. However, God forbid, if something had gone wrong - that's it, then these many runs wouldn't have been scored," Chopra said.
Chopra pointed out that India fell short in Hyderabad on a better pitch despite having a relatively more experienced batting lineup.
"We couldn't chase in Hyderabad and there Tom Hartley was playing his first match, Jimmy Anderson wasn't there, India had KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer as well and the pitch was much better than this Ranchi pitch," he noted.
Chopra highlighted that the likes of Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, and Dhruv Jurel had never batted in the fourth innings of a Test match before this game. He added that the Indian captain had to soak up the pressure and lead from the front in such a scenario.
"There is nothing that he does not do right against spin" - Aakash Chopra on Rohit Sharma
Aakash Chopra praised Rohit Sharma for taking the attack to James Anderson and keeping the England spinners at bay for a long time. He stated (3:05):
"Rohit played extremely well in my opinion. Firstly, he hit a six off Jimmy Anderson's bowling. He plays spin well because he is good at defending, stepping out, playing the sweep, and plays with soft hands. There is nothing that he does not do right against spin. Of course, he fell prey to Tom Hartley in the end."
The cricketer-turned-commentator acknowledged that England helped India's cause by not giving a single over to Anderson on the third evening. He noted that if the visitors had conceded 20 runs fewer in the last eight overs on Day 3, India would have had a more arduous task on Monday.