Opening the innings has helped me focus on my technique: Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma was out with a thigh injury for six tumultuous months. He was finding it hard to get his form back after the injury and had his worst season in the IPL. He did not perform to his best and it was a huge concern for the Indian team ahead of the Champions Trophy.

However, come the first game of the tournament and the Hitman was back in form. He smashed a brilliant fifty against Pakistan only to miss out on the century by 9 runs. His form was not a concern anymore and he continued to fire in the following matches and he scored a masterful century against Bangladesh in the semis.

Balancing the balance

Rohit’s performance saw everyone watch in awe but the opener had been working hard on his technique before the Champions Trophy began. The thigh injury had made sure that the Mumbaikar was struggling with his balance on the point of contact.

It is not new to Indian batters as they tend to fall over to the deliveries drifting into them. Rohit, who is impeccable when it comes to his shots and those lazy on the up drives but somehow those dried up during the IPL season and eventually the runs were not coming easy.

When India landed in England, Rohit spent quite a few hours with batting coach Sanjay Bangar. After that, he ironed things out in the nets and his hard work paid off as he sorted out the small glitches in his technique. While talking to some of the former England cricketers Rohit said that batting up front also helps as all the experts including Michael Atherton, Ian Ward and Robert Key were praising him for his ‘balance’.

Batting up the order helps

Rohit Sharma struggled in the IPL and the reason behind it might be batting down the order and not opening the innings. He said that opening the innings has helped him a great deal as he can focus on his technique rather than just scoring runs.

“When you’re walking out in the middle-order, the focus is always on scoring runs and how you’re going to do that. But when you’re opening, you can focus a lot more on your technique and work on factors like balance,” Rohit said.