SL vs Ind – Rohit Sharma – ‘We didn’t play enough sweeps, reverse sweeps, or paddle sweeps’

Maybe India should have swept the ball more. Or at least used the sweep more effectively (given the few batsmen who have been playing that shot throughout the series).

“They were keeping up with the sweep, taking chances,” Rohit said of Sri Lanka’s batsmen. “There weren’t many runs that they hit down. They didn’t use their feet as much as we expected. It was about sweeping and drilling that deep-square area and midwicket. That’s something we failed to do as a batting unit.

“If you look at Kusal Mendis and Avishka Fernando today [who put on an 82-run stand], they scored more runs square the wicket. They used turns, and sweeps, which made the fielder go left and right. They were smart in the way they hit and we weren’t.

“Overall, we need to admit where we made mistakes, we weren’t strong against the spin. On these wickets, you need to be a little more successful and the Sri Lankan spinners have always put us under pressure in all three games.”

It is surprising to put Indian batting under spin under the microscope, because while international batting tracks in India have tended to be good at batting in recent years, Indian batsmen are generally not used to responding to pitches, which Rohit and others have emphasized in this series. .

The approach at the moment, seems to be to let individual hitters find their own strategy when playing on changing tracks. Some may want to run forward more often, but others may choose to go deeper into their creases. The idea is that playing good spin looks different from batter to batter.

“It’s about individual plans rather than us telling them what to do or what ball to play. All these lads have come here playing so much cricket. To suddenly tell them to do things a little bit differently – to play a shot they’re not comfortable with – it’s not right.

“That’s where I said, it’s all about individual plans, how they want to take the pitchers, what shots they want to play. It starts with your training, When you come to your sessions, I see guys working hard on the sticks whenever we get a chance to practice I don’t see any less effort if we want to play different shots .

Although his team was modest in terms of batting, Rohit was the best batsman in the series, scoring 157 runs at a strike rate of 141.44 across the three matches. As an opener, he enjoyed the best batting conditions. But in the first and second games, where he scored five runs, he ensured that the required run rate was not too much of a concern for the batsmen who would follow him.

“I knew that the runs that would be scored during the powerplay would be critical. I knew that the wickets would be slow after that, the ball would turn less and the field would spread. If there are only two players. outside the ring, we had to take our chances whenever I felt I could put a bowler under of pressure Every run you score more than that, it benefits the team to play the remaining 40 overs.

“My personal effort was to make sure I scored as many runs as I could. It wasn’t like I wanted to throw away my wicket after the powerplay. I wanted to continue with the momentum and purpose, but unfortunately I was dismissed when I tried to play a few shots. My batting plan is simple and straightforward.”