Virat Kohli and KL Rahul helped team India recover from a precarious situation of 2-3 in the World Cup match against Australia on Sunday (October 8). But the kind of shots Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer played has attracted a lot of criticism for the duo. Both of them and skipper Rohit Sharma were dismissed for a duck as India were collapsed upfront in the 200-run chase.
While Kishan played a needless shot off the first ball he faced only to edge the ball to the first slip, Iyer was caught in the covers off a harmless length delivery from Josh Hazlewood. Meanwhile, former India chief selector Chetan Sharma has given his point of view over the approach from both batters.
He admitted that they played rash shots but felt that the powerplay was crucial in the tricky chase for India with runs on offer with the new ball. Spinners dominated for India with the ball and even Australia had Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell with the pitch assisting slower bowlers. So, Chetan reckons the mindset from the players would've been to attack up front when the ball was new.
Talking to Aditya Kukalyekar, Assistant Editor - Sports of India TV, Chetan Sharma said, "They (Kishan and Iyer) should've actually played better shots. First 10 overs were crucial. This must've been discussed in the dressing room also. With ball being hard and spinners likely to be effective later, that would've been on their mind to get on with the game in the initial 10 overs. I know the right shots were not played. But at the end of the day, when you are 3 down for 2 runs, obviously, the shots were not up to the mark."
India skipper Rohit Sharma was pinned in front of the stumps by Hazlewood. He was dismissed yet again on an inswinging delivery and opening up on the same, the 1983 World Cup winner felt that Rohit should've played on the backfoot more instead of planting his front foot. "It's basically a different sort of a wicket. It wasn't low and slow. Obviously, on a wicket like this, you tend to play on the backfoot, you don't come fully forward, that was the reason (he got out). Otherwise, to the right hand bowlers, I have never seen Rohit getting out like this," Chetan added.
