India opener Rohit Sharma on Thursday (August 5) perished while executing his favourite pull shot at the stroke of Lunch break in the ongoing first Test against England at Trent Bridge.
Rohit was batting on 107-ball 36 when he went for the pull off Ollie Robinson’s bowling but failed to make the desired connection and was caught by Sam Curran at fine leg.
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After the second day’s play, Rohit defended playing his trademark stroke, saying if he sees the ball in his areas, he “has to play his shots”.
“Like you said it is my shot, so I have to play shots, as we saw in the first hour of play, we did not get any loose balls and their bowlers were quite disciplined,” Rohit said at the post-day press conference.
“So, you have to take your odd chances when the ball is there, you got to punish them. Of course, you know, when it’s around the time of close of play, you feel disappointed and that is what I am feeling about it (the dismissal),” he added.
The action on Day 2 was called off early due to rain. India ended the day at 125/4 with KL Rahul (57*) and Rishabh Pant (7*) at the crease, trailing the hosts by 58 runs in the first innings.
Earlier, Team India got off to a brilliant start as the duo of Rohit and Rahul added 97 runs for the opening wicket. However, veteran James Anderson’s fiery spell (2-15), dismissing Cheteshwar Pujara (4) and Virat Kohli (0) cheaply, reduced the visitors to 104/3 before vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane (5) got run out.
“But you got to be ready to play your shots as well, because their bowlers are so disciplined, you hardly get anything. So, you got to put the balls which are your shots and in your area you got to put that ball away and that is what me and KL (Rahul), when we were batting, we were on that thought process,” Rohit stated.
“If feel like taking a couple of shots on, we are not going to shy away from that, we will play those shots. While doing that if you get out; I mean yes you feel disappointed, but you know there is very thin line between getting out like that and that same delivery or same ball, if it… the catch was slightly away or five yards left and right of the fielder, it could have been either way as well,” he further remarked.
(With PTI inputs)
