Having been failing consistently with the bat for over the past one year, It’s been hugely challenging for Indian skipper Rohit Sharma to reclaim the touch which he is known for, particulary in the longest format of the game. Recently, India were outperformed by New Zealand in the three-match Test series as they suffered an embarrassing 0-3 series defeat. In the series against New Zealand, Rohit failed miserably, struggling hard to find his form. Sharing his views on Sharma’s perpetual struggle, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar said that Rohit doesn’t trust his defence.
"I will never say that he is reckless because he is finding his own way to ensure that he gets runs, to get the team to win. He clearly doesn't trust his defence anymore, you could see that, there was a LBW appeal and that must have just made him feel unsettled ever more," Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo.
"So the next thing that he looks to do is counter-attack and he did that because the target wasn't a huge one, and who knows a couple of shots here and there and he would have maybe replicated that Bangladesh run chase," he said.
"But the shot that he played to get out was where he was trying to hit the ball into the stands rather than just make the connection. He is missing a few of his big hits. There was one in the first Test match as well, where he stepped out and tried to hit the ball out of the ground, so he is mis-hitting a lot of his attacking shots and he is not trusting his defence enough. So that is a real problem for Rohit Sharma currently," he added.
Across the six innings, Rohit Sharma only managed to get 91 runs, including a half-century. In the last Test match against New Zealand, Sharma brought up (18) and (11) runs in both innings.