SKY has already had a memorable year, but India captain Rohit Sharma feels the best is yet to come. SKY, a late bloomer, has looked at ease on the biggest stages so rapidly that he has emerged as one of India’s main players a little over 18 months after making his international debut. That debut came in a Twenty20 International against England in March 2021, the same opponents India will meet in an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup semi-final on Thursday.
SKY rescues India with brilliant Batting
The 32-year-old has subsequently risen to No. 1 in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I batting rankings, becoming only the second hitter in the format’s history to score 1000 runs in a calendar year, and will enter the semi-final in command after hitting 61* from only 25 balls against Zimbabwe. SKY finished the Super 12 stage with 225 runs at a strike rate of 193.96, a rate increased by consistently attacking bowlers from the start of each of his five T20 World Cup innings.
SKY bats the same way whether we’re 10/2 or 100/2,” Rohit told reporters on Wednesday. He loves to go out and express himself, which is probably why he was in the previous (T20) World Cup team. Although we didn’t have a wonderful World Cup, looking at what he’s done in the full year since then, the sky’s the limit for him.”
SKY showed incredible maturity, taking pressure off a lot of the players with the way he plays, and that rubs off on the others when they bat around him. He realizes that he enjoys playing on a large field. He despises playing on tiny fields. He dislikes the narrower borders and grounds.” He is blind to the gaps.
SKY No.1 T20I Ranked Batter
I suppose he enjoys seeing large gaps, and that this is where his power lies. After taking a whack while hitting in the nets at the SCG on Tuesday and needing special treatment before returning to face more balls, Rohit revealed his hand had “a little bruise, but it’s perfectly OK now.” However, India skipper Virat Kohli was tight-lipped on whether Rishabh Pant will be retained in the India XI for the semi-final after the left-hander replaced veteran Dinesh Karthik in their last Super 12 encounter.
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He dislikes the limited borders and grounds. He can’t notice the holes. I suppose he enjoys seeing large gaps, and that this is where he excels. Rohit claimed his hand had “a little bruise, but it’s perfectly OK now” after taking a whack while hitting in the nets at the SCG on Tuesday and requiring special treatment before returning to face more balls.
However, the India captain was tight-lipped on whether Rishabh Pant will be retained in the India XI for the semi-final after the left-hander replaced veteran Dinesh Karthik in their last Super 12 encounter. It was also a bit tactical because we didn’t know which team we’d be facing in the semis until after the Zimbabwe game, so we simply wanted to give a left-hander an opportunity to counter some of the spinners who bowled in the middle for New Zealand and England.
I won’t be able to tell you what will happen tomorrow, but both keepers will definitely be in play. Rohit sprang to the defense of spinner Axar Patel, who has three wickets and an economy rate of more than nine per over in four T20 World Cup matches. The left-arm spinner has been used sparingly, with India just bowling one over against Bangladesh at the Adelaide Oval – the same location for the winner-take-all encounter with England. Except for one game against the Netherlands, he hasn’t bowled complete overs of his quota because of the circumstances,” Rohit explained.
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We have four seamers who have bowled all of their quotas, therefore the spinners will not bowl their overs. With the exception of Sydney, all of the grounds we’ve played had a lot to give the seamers, which means we never got a chance to bowl Axar in the Powerplay, which is his specialty.” We haven’t dug too deeply into his bowling and been concerned about his performance because we knew his quality, and he bowled incredibly well in the series we played before coming here.”