DTVHINDI
Following Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav’s poor performance at the Eden Gardens during Mumbai Indians’ 18-run defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday, May 11, Virender Sehwag came down heavily on both the batsmen. In this 16 over match due to rain, Knight Riders batted first and scored 157/7.
In reply, the visiting team got off to a bright start in the powerplay, with Ishan Kishan scoring a blistering 40 runs in 22 balls. However, his opening partner Rohit was seen struggling to score runs in this match and was eventually dismissed after scoring 19 runs in 24 balls. He tried to play a sweep shot to Varun Chakraborty, but here he was out.
Apart from Rohit, Suryakumar’s bat also remained calm in this match and after scoring 11 runs in 14 balls, he was out on the ball of Andre Russell. He tried to play a shot on the slow short ball from outside the off-stump but could not time it properly and was caught out at deep square. Both the experienced Indian batsmen were out after playing a slow innings with a strike rate of less than 100.
Former India opener Sehwag criticized the manner of dismissal of both the players, especially Rohit. He said it is important to keep the ego off the field and respect good balls in difficult situations. Sehwag was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz that, “Whoever bowls well, just play him.
If two wickets had not fallen, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav could have finished the match an over earlier. Vaibhav Arora, Mitchell Starc, Andre Russell and Harshit Rana were to bowl anyway; If they had played the spinners and not lost wickets, they would have won the match easily.”
The former Indian cricketer also said, “You cannot be arrogant when you come to bat. You play them or punish weak balls. Naman Dheer came in at the very end and hit two sixes and a four; If Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav had set out on it, he would have hit a boundary in 5 balls.
You may be Rohit Sharma or Suryakumar Yadav, but if you cannot respect the bowler then at least respect the balls. The ball on which Rohit Sharma got out was not a weak ball, there is no doubt that Rohit and Suryakumar are great players, but it does not mean that you should hit good balls also.”
