Harma trips on he hook again, is go-to stroke
England fast bowler k Wood is on the top of his up. Rohit Sharma is taking d. Wood has a spring in his e after dismissing KL Rahul. and have realised there isn’t h swing on offer and the dster has been brought on change quite early with a t-ball plan. e Root knows the Indian ers are the ones amongst uns and there is a low-onidence middle order to folif the new ball does the , it can potentially rip the h open for the home side. gland move a fielder from ward point to deep square harma knows what’s comin that over, he’s already ed Wood once to the ds—perfect transfer of ht—to all round applause. d dares Sharma to go for it n. He does, but this time d’s bouncer is a shade er and into his body. Even re the waiting Moeen Ali it up at deep square Sharma ws he has failed to execute avourite shot. He’s walking ruefully looking at the botedge of his bat, with India down and yet to take a lead. is is the fifth instance of ma being dismissed playing ll or hook in Tests. “If I see all in my area, I have to play hot. That’s my shot. I have uns playing that shot,” he said after the first Test re too he holed out in the . He could well say that n. But was it in his area? Did
atch situation require him ay differently? This was the bumper in the over, and een his six and getting out, d duck under one. could well be that Sharma sticks to his guns in the future. Not for bravado but in continuing to believe that for him it’s a productive shot. “You got to be ready to play your shots as well because their bowlers are so disciplined, you hardly get anything. So, you have to put the balls (away) which are your shots and, in your area,” he said in Trent Bridge.
There’s no doubt the shot belongs to him. A Cricinfo analysis shows that between 2015-20 no batsman struck more sixes (116) off the pull across formats than Sharma. His strike-rate when he pulls is a staggering 274.91, which is also the best among all batsmen to score 500plus runs.
One could thus argue that for Sharma it is just another shot like an off-drive against the outswinger is for some batsman. After all, he belongs in the alltime top-ten list of Test openers with the best average (61.25) after 22 innings. They would have used the short-pitched ball against him from time to time.
In this series though, it hasn’t proved to be very productive. In 10 pulls or hooks, Sharma has delivered 2 sixes, 2 fours and 2 dismissals, according to Cricviz. Not worth the risk for rewards in England. Not with the form he is in.
“Rohit has made it clear it is a shot that fetches him runs and we’re backing him. It’s only that you could be more selective. We will be having those conversations,” batting coach Vikram Rathour said after play on Sunday.
It’s a fine line. It didn’t matter when he mistimed a pull on 212 against South Africa in 2019. But then if you have the ability to reach a double in Test cricket, you could well pick and choose the right moments.