Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma
The pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma has been one of the most daunting opening combinations in modern era cricket. The pair has amassed thousands of runs with plenty of century partnerships and record-breaking stands. But on Friday, during an Instagram chat with Australia's David Warner, Rohit revealed that Dhawan does not like facing the first ball of the game while also mention an annoying thing about him which Warner agreed upon.
When Warner asked Rohit about is experience of batting alongside Dhawan, India's limited-overs captain said, "He is an idiot, He does not like to face the first ball. He likes to play the spinner but does not like to take on the spinners."
"I remember way back in 2013 when I started opening for India in limited-overs. It was my first game as an opener in Champions Trophy. So I told him to take the strike as I had not faced the bowlers with the new ball. And he was like, no Rohit, you have been playing for a while this is my first tour. And I said I mean the guy who is a regular opener does not want to take the strike."
"Then I took the strike and Morne Morkel was bowling and I did not see the first three balls because I was not expecting the bounce. That was my first experience with Shikhar, but now I am comfortable with him."
Together, the pair has managed 4902 runs in 107 ODI innings at 45.30 an average and 16 century-plus stands. They are in fact the second highest run-scoring opening pair for India in ODIs after Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar.
"Sometimes he is very annoying as well. In the middle, I am setting up the game and 5 seconds he is like what did you say. Imagine, you are under tremendous pressure and then this guy says all these things. It kinds of makes you frustrated," Rohit said.
"He has that weird thing, when he defends the ball and he goes back for a non-striker it is confusing whether to run or not. So I have decided, I am not going to run unless I see the ball going into the gap. I have missed many runs doing that but I do not regret that."
Warner echoed his sentiments saying that he has been waiting for someone to mention that to Dhawan.
"I am glad that you said that, because when I was batting with him at SRH, I was hoping someone says the same thing. It is very hard to judge."
