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Updated August 16th, 2021 at 14:01 IST

'Rohit Sharma needs to be selective in playing pull shots': Batting coach Vikram Rathour

An in-form Rohit Sharma threw away his wicket when playing the hook shot off Mark Wood's bowling on Sunday at Lord's, disappointing Indian supporters.

Reported by: Vishal Tiwari
England vs India, Vikram Rathour, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Lord's Test, India vs England, Joe Root, Rishabh Pant, James Anderson
Image: VikramRathour/Insta/PTI | Image:self
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Team India's batting coach Vikram Rathour says that Indian opener Rohit Sharma should be more careful when playing pull shots. An in-form Rohit Sharma threw away his wicket when playing the hook shot off Mark Wood's bowling on Sunday at Lord's, disappointing Indian supporters. Experts and observers agreed that Rohit's shot selection was incorrect and that he fell into the trap put up by England's pace bowler. Rathour stated that the pull shot fetches Rohit runs, therefore he will play it whenever possible. However, he must be selective when playing those shots.

Rohit Sharma lost his wicket while attempting to play the hook shot off Wood's bowling, who had bowled a similar delivery prior to that, which the Indian opener had dispatched for a six from outside-off. However, the wicket-taking delivery that Wood bowled was a bit closer to Rohit's left shoulder and as the Indian batter tried to play the hook, the ball went directly into the safe hands of Moeen Ali at deep square leg. This was the second time in the ongoing Test series between India and England when Sharma got out playing the hook shot. 

'Will be having a lot of talk'

Meanwhile, Rathour also talked about the shot that got Indian skipper Virat Kohli dismissed. Rathour said it was just a "lapse of concentration" on Kohli's part while playing that shot off Sam Curran's outside-off delivery. Rathour said he will have a chat with both batsmen and understand what they were thinking before playing those shots. 

"Will be having a lot of talk of what happened and what they were thinking while playing that shot. As far as Rohit is concerned, he has made it clear that pull shot fetches him runs so he is going to play those shots and we will back him playing those shots. The only thing, he needs to be a little more selective, if he can have that conversation and we will have a conversation with him. Kohli, I do not think there was an issue, it was just a lapse of concentration. I do not think there is anything old coming back," Rathour said at the post-day press conference. 

On Day 4, India was in deep trouble after losing in-form openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma in the space of two overs. Virat Kohli, India's captain, left with only 20 runs on the board. Cheteshwar Piujara and Ajinkya Rahane, who have been chastised for their poor batsmanship for a long time, put on a critical century partnership to take India from 55/3 to 155. However, Mark Wood struck again and dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara for 45 runs. Minutes later, Moeen Ali removed Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja to help England finish the day on top. India will resume batting on Day 5 at 181/6 with explosive batsman Rishabh Pant in the middle. 

Image: VikramRathour/Insta/PTI
 

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Published August 16th, 2021 at 14:01 IST

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