Rohit Sharma was the top scorer for India with 19 runs in the first innings of the ongoing third Test match against England at Leeds, in which the visitors were bowled out for an embarrassing score of 78.
Sharma was the lone one fighting having played 105 balls, stayed on the crease for 172 mins, but was dismissed trying to play a pull shot, something of a trap he has often fallen into in the recent past.
While previewing the third day's play in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra pointed out that Rohit Sharma is likely to gain from the time he spent in the middle in the first innings.
"When someone puts in that much effort, standing firmly for 100-odd balls. 75 balls and 15 runs in the first session on Day 1 of the third Test match. Sometime or the other you will be benefited from that. He has sown the seeds, it is now time for the plant to grow,” Chopra said.
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Furthermore, Chopra added that the conditions in the second innings for India will help Rohit Sharma and expected him to play more freely and have a bigger role with the bat.
He said, "The pitch that is going to be there in the second innings is quite alright. It is still a very flat surface. The sideways movement has already completely finished and there is not much swing in the air as well. In fact, when the play started on the second day the conditions were overcast and despite that, the ball did not move."
"In the third day's play, he will bat with a lot more freedom, that's what I am expecting from Rohit Sharma. Play cautiously for some time but after that free-flowing shots, through the covers, back-foot punch. He needs to be slightly wary of the pull but other than that I feel Rohit Sharma should play a big innings. His big innings is around the corner," Chopra signed off.
England, in reply, scored 423/8 at the end of day two with Joe Root making 121 and the top three of their batting line- Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, and Dawid Malan scoring half-centuries. England leads by 345 runs with 2 wickets to spare when they resume their innings on day three.
