Courtesy: BCCI/Google
Ahead of the highly anticipated final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian captain, has called out Rohit Sharma for not batting time in the ODI format. The 37-year-old, who is set to captain India in the Champions Trophy final against New Zealand on Sunday, March 9, has lost his wicket in the four matches of the tournament after getting off to a flyer, but not going past a fifty on any of these occasions.
Notably, over the past couple of years, following the disastrous end to the ICC T20 World Cup in the year 2022, Rohit Sharma completely changed his batting approach in limited-overs cricket, looking to smash the opposition bowling attacks without putting a price on his wicket, especially in ODIs. With that, he has been able to propel India to fast starts, but at the price of not batting time, which has led to him not scoring fifties or hundreds as consistently as before.
Are you happy with scoring 25-30 runs? You shouldn't be: Gavaskar to Rohit
Addressing the matter in an interview with India Today, Sunil Gavaskar spoke about how Rohit Sharma is not justifying his talent by using an approach of going after the bowlers without caring for his wicket. The 75-year-old went on to remark that if Rohit Sharma “bats for even 25 overs, India will be around 180-200. Imagine if they have lost only a couple of wickets by then; just think what they could do-they could reach 350 or more.”
The ODI World Cup winner also categorically stated that Rohit Sharma should give himself the chance to bat for at least the first half of an ODI innings. He said, as per NDTV Sports, “He also needs to give it some thought. It's one thing to go out and play aggressively, but there has to be a bit of discretion somewhere to give himself the chance to bat for 25-30 overs. If he does that, he takes the game away from the opposition.”
“That kind of impact is match-winning. And I think, as a batter, are you happy with scoring 25-30 runs? You shouldn't be! So that is what I would say to him: your impact on the team will be even greater if you bat for 25 overs instead of just seven, eight, or nine overs,” he added.
