Dinesh Karthik urges Rohit to trust his ‘technique’ more in Tests

Over the last two home series, Rohit Sharma has hit rock bottom in Test cricket, with an average of 10.5 and 15.16 against Bangladesh and New Zealand, respectively. Across both series, the Indian captain has been a bit vulnerable, getting out against pace more than the others. 

What’s troubling the Indian skipper? Former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik explains that Rohit's inability to trust his ‘technique’ is causing him to attack more, which has, in return, accounted for most of his dismissal. 

“The one thing that Rohit Sharma is not doing, which he did very well when took up his role as an opener, is trust his technique,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.

“Yes, attack is an option. But that will only come better if you trust your technique. Because you are worried you might get out defending or playing a soft shot, you are trying to attack. Then, that is fraught with risk. Because if it doesn’t come off, it looks silly,” he added. 

Since becoming a mainstay of the Indian Test unit, Rohit has incorporated a fascinating attacking approach to his red-ball game, with 1,223 runs since 2022, with a strike rate of 63.2. But in the last few Tests, that ultra-attacking nature of his has come under the scanner, especially after the loss in Mumbai, where he got out for a run-a-ball 11. 

“In Test cricket, what I feel is that intent is getting him into a safe space, where he feels when in trouble, use that. It’s not a method where he’s using it like he’s using it in white-ball cricket, one that the Indian team needed.

“Here, a lot of times, when he is beaten a couple of times when he is put under a little bit of pressure, an immediate instinct is to play an attacking shot fraught with risk. Now with that comes the possibility to get out as well,” he said.

“I think his safe space right now, in Rohit Sharma’s case, is to attack. He feels he is a lot more comfortable doing it because he’s seen that success. But when it doesn’t go right, it always will give the image that it has given so far,” he added.

It will be interesting to see how Rohit moulds his game for the upcoming five-match Test series against Australia, where the conditions might be tougher for the batters. The first of the five-match Test series starts in Perth on November 22. 

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