India vs New Zealand 2nd Test: Rohit Sharma’s lack of footwork criticised by Sanjay Manjarekar

New Delhi: Indian skipper Rohit Sharma has faced a lot of criticism from former cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjarekar for his irresponsible dismissal against New Zealand in the 1st innings of the second test in Pune.

Rohit registered a nine-ball duck in the first innings and was dismissed by an outswing delivery by Tim Southee. The Hitman’s lack of foot movement was exploited by the Kiwi pacer as the Indian skipper tried to reach for the ball. Subsequently, the Indian skipper was bowled by Southee.

Interestingly, Southee has now dismissed Rohit 14 times in international, the joint-most by any bowler alongside Kagiso Rabada. While these stats may be worrisome for the Indian skipper, Rohit’s lack of foot movement is something which may prove to be costly in the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy.

Manjarekar’s analysis on Rohit

Meanwhile, former Indian Sanjay Manjarekar analysed Rohit’s entire innings of 9 balls in the first test and remarked in a post-match conference in ESPNcricinfo:

He would not take a step forward and he would react just with the bat, that is starting to happen, and when he had that fantastic series in England, he was doing the same thing, the front pad never goes down the pitch as much as Virat does, but he was able to leave balls outside the off stump….

 

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Furthermore, the former Indian batsman added:

I think they have worked out a way to bowl to Rohit Sharma. If you see he was made to play that ball and in an attempt to play a ball that he had to play, that movement, he is always reacting with the bat. That happened in the first Test as well, where there was a DRS situation, where he was reacting to the movement with the bat, and the pad was not there….

India is currently chasing a total of 359 against NZ and has lost Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma with a score of 96 on the board. Yashasvi Jaiswal has been able to hold on to one end of the crease and thereby registered a half-century (56 off 46 balls).