India captain Rohit Sharma had a bizarre start to the Cricket World Cup 2023 that saw him dismissed for a duck against Australia. It wasn't just Rohit but fellow opening batter Ishan Kishan and middle-order star Shreyas Iyer who also incurred ducks in the match. Though KL Rahul and Virat Kohli rescued India, helping the team secure a 6-wicket win, Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar wasn't pleased with what he saw from the skipper Rohit, especially considering he had hit 5 tons in the 2019 edition of the tournament.
Rohit was India's best batter in the 2019 ODI World Cup but the 2023 campaign got off to a poor start for him. One of the big reasons for Gavaskar, behind Rohit's poor return from the match, was his footwork being 'palpably slow'.
"In the last tournament in 2019, Rohit Sharma, the Indian skipper, hit five centuries and a few half-centuries too. This time around, which could well be his last World Cup, he has begun with a zero in the first game. The footwork is palpably slow to start with, and that makes him vulnerable to the incoming delivery. If he can rediscover the 2019 form, then India will be assured of a very good start to their campaign," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
With India up against Afghanistan next, Gavaskar feels India can't be defined as 'favourites' despite winning their first match against Australia in convincing fashion.
"The so-called minnows, Afghanistan and the Netherlands, have started with defeats as also Sri Lanka who had to qualify for the tournament.
"It's going to be a long haul for all the teams, and no one can be termed as favourites after they have played their first match. That's why this tournament could well be the most exciting of them all," he further wrote in the column.
from NDTV Sports-Cricket https://ift.tt/8ECaiAZ
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