ROHIT RELIES MORE ON TIMING THAN POWER
Indore, Dec. 23: It’s not brute power but sublime timing with which Rohit Sharma produces the big knocks and the Indian opener says it is the ability to play according to the field that is key to his batting. “I definitely don’t have so much power. I rely a lot on
timing the ball more than anything else. I know what my strengths are as well as my weaknesses. I try to play to the field as much as I can, to be honest,” Rohit, who flattened
the Sri Lankan attack with joint fastest T20 century, said.
He clears the boundary ropes with consummate ease, in complete contrast to modern day’s aggressive batsmen such as Chris Gayle, who rely on power hitting. Yet he is the only batsman, who has three double hundreds in ODIs and now two in the Twenty20 format. Asked if he makes any technical adjustment to hit the long shots, Rohit explained his strategy. “The field is spread after six overs. I try and see where I can find my boundary options. It’s important to be able to play with the field,” he said.
“I want to score all around the park and not just one area. It’s important to explore the fielding the opposition keeps for me. In all formats, I try to do that. You can’t just hit in one area, you become predictable then. It’s always important to score runs all over the field and that’s my strength.”
The way he was mauling the Lankan attack, a double hundred in T20 was a possibility. However, Rohit said he did not think of double century. “Not really. I was just thinking to score runs. I wasn’t thinking of any particular target.”
— PTI