Rohit Sharma’s lean run of form continued as he recorded a single-digit score in India’s first ODI against England at the VCA Stadium, Nagpur on Thursday (February 6).
The Indian skipper came into the ODI series on the back of a disappointing Test tour of Australia, where he amassed only 31 runs in five innings at an abysmal average of 6.20.
With growing speculations on his future, Rohit scored 2 off 7 balls in the ODI series opener against England. He tried to flick a delivery from Saqib Mahmood off his pads, only to top edge the ball straight into the hands of Liam Livingstone.
Rohit's scores during the 2024/25 season across formats read 6, 5, 23, 8, 2, 52, 0, 8, 18, 11, 3, 6, 10, 3, 9 and 2, with a sum total of 166 runs from 16 innings at a terrible average of 10.37.
Ahead of the second ODI in Cuttack on Sunday (February 9), former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar claimed that Rohit is looking 'under pressure' and the Indian team is heading towards a big problem if the captain doesn't come out of this rut quickly.
"He'll be disappointed with the way he got out. Clearly there is pressure and if in 50-over cricket he struggles to get runs or get a big score, then you have a problem. Because I maintain that this is the best format for any batter, if you are batting in the top three, to get runs and come back into form. And if we don't get to see the best of Rohit Sharma in this three-match series and the Champions Trophy, then there is a problem," Manjrekar said in a chat on ESPNCricinfo.
India successfully chased down 249 in ODI series opener despite losing two early wickets and star batter Virat Kohli’s absence due to knee injury. Riding on half-centuries from Shubman Gill (87), Shreyas Iyer (59) and Axar Patel (52), the hosts overhauled the target with four wickets in hand and 68 deliveries to spare.
After the game, Rohit seemed fairly happy with the team's win, though he did rue the flurry of wickets India lost at the end of the chase.
"Pretty happy. We all knew we are playing this format after a long time. I thought right from the beginning we played as per expectation. They did start well but the way we came back was superb. We wanted a leftie in the middle. It is as simple as that. We know they will spin it back into the left-handers so we wanted a leftie. Gill and Axar batted brilliantly out in the middle. Nothing specific. Overall as a team I just want us as a team to keep doing the right things as much as possible," Rohit said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
