Coulter-Nile keen to target Rohit’s ‘compulsive’ pull
MUMBAI: Australia pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile feels it will be as important to send Virat Kohli back early as it would be to dismiss Rohit Sharma. India will take on Australia in a threematch T20 series, which gets underway at the Brisbane Cricket Ground on Wednesday with the visitors hoping to extend their winning run Down Under in the shortest format of the game to five matches.
The last time India lost a T20 game against Australia in Australia was way back in February 2012. Their unbeaten run also includes a 3-0 whitewash of the Australians in 2016 and with the hosts going through one of their worst phases, the India team has every reason to step out with a positive mindset.
Sharma had scored two halfcenturies in the previous series and with two centuries to his name in his last four T20 internationals, it’s a no-brainer that Coulter-Nile has reasons to worry about the batsman.
Sharma’s exploits in limitedovers cricket is well-known. With four centuries in the shortest format of the game and the only person with three double hundreds in 50-over matches, Sharma has often been the tormentor-in-chief guiding India to gigantic totals.
“He’s an unbelievable player. His record speaks for itself. He’s got a good record all around the world, so he’s a definite player to watch,” Coulter-Nile said on Monday.
“But we’ve also had a bit of success against him with the new ball as well — I think ‘Dorff’ (Jason Behrendorff) got him out last time we played him —so we’ll look to do that again early. With the big square boundaries here we might test him (with the short ball) a bit, see how he goes — he’s a good puller of the ball but he’s compulsive as well, so we’ll try and get him out there.”
Since the start of this decade, Sharma is the highest run-getter in the limited overs format against Australia in Australia with 667 runs scored in the ODIs at an average of 74.11.
Being the only batsman with seven scores of 150 or more, Sharma’s strike rate in six of those seven knocks have been between 81-105 until he reached the triple-figure mark. It was only against West Indies in Guwahati last month where he scored at a rate of 119.04 before going on to finish his knock of 152 at 129.91.
That difference in strike rate is also the least he’s improved on in his knocks in those seven innings with the maximum being 52.60.