Dinesh Karthik advises Rohit Sharma to trust his technique amid lackluster Test form

After a supreme T20 World Cup 2024 campaign which saw Rohit Sharma ending up as the second-highest run-scorer, Rohit's Test form in the swarm of Tests being played in the last two months has been nothing short of underwhelming. The home series against Bangladesh and New Zealand have yielded underwhelming results with the willow. Not only that, Rohit has also looked quite circumspect while occupying the crease, a notable deviation from his characteristic self.

Former India cricketer, Dinesh Karthik, was of the opinion that all Rohit had to do was have faith in his technique and not try to attack without a clear thought process behind the same.

“So, the one thing that Rohit Sharma is not doing, which he did very well when he took up his role as an opener, is trust his technique. 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,” stated Karthik while speaking on Cricbuzz Chatter.

Karthik also dissected what the possible limitation was for Rohit while attempting to play aggressively, comparing the style of play with the manner in which he goes about things when it comes to limited-overs cricket.

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“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 ability to get out as well,” noted Karthik.

When it doesn't go right, it will always give the image that it has given so far: Karthik

The current batting coach and mentor of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru also shed light on the possible reason why Rohit has been resorting solely to playing aggressively of late.

“I think his safe space right now, in Rohit Sharma's case, is to attack. Then in that, 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.

So far, Rohit has opened in 37 Tests and has managed to score 2,685 runs at an average of 44.01 with nine hundred and eight fifties to his name.