Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and former captain Virat Kohli had a tough time in the past couple of months, playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. They have done marvels in the past editions with the bat in hands but this year didn’t treat them well. They lacked consistency throughout the season and majorly struggled to score at a better strike rate.
While Rohit ended the season with 268 runs in 14 games, Kohli amassed 341 runs from 16 matches; with strike rates of 120 and 116 respectively. What became the talking point is their approach of scoring runs in the first six overs – the Powerplay. Being top-order batters, they hold the responsibility to provide good starts to the innings which they couldn’t do in most of the games in IPL 2022.
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However, the Indian team management would expect their senior batters to come out of their rough patches before they board the flight to Australia for the much-awaited T20 World Cup later this year. As of now, the duo has been rested for the South Africa T20Is at home, which begins on Thursday in Delhi.
Ahead of the series opener, head coach Rahul Dravid addressed the media on Tuesday and highlighted the need of scoring rapid runs in crucial T20 matches. While the coach didn’t take names, he did mention the necessity for an improved strike rate.
“If it’s a high-scoring game, then obviously you want your players to maintain the strike rate. If the wicket is more challenging, then they have to respond to that as well,” Dravid said in a virtual press conference.
The former India captain believes that role clarity will be paramount and might be different from what players are used in their respective IPL franchises.
“In general, in T20 you want people to play positively and these people do that. As I said their roles might be slightly different to what we expect of them. We will be giving them a lot of clarity as to what their roles are. And I’m confident anyone in the top three will be able to play the role according to the situation of the match,” he added.
It’s not the first time that the approach of India’s top 3 batters in the powerplay is being talked about so frequently. It was pointed out by the cricket pundits during the last T20 World Cup as well. But Dravid gave clear hints that he is in no mood to tinker with the top three in any case.
“We know our top three’s quality. They are top class. There will be a slightly different top three in this series but what we are looking for (in general) is a good positive start and playing according to the situation,” Dravid said.
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