MUMBAI: Shortly after India’s win against Pakistan in Ahmedabad, Hardik Pandya was mic’d up for BCCI.tv to talk with captain Rohit Sharma. Sharma had followed up his swashbuckling century with a blistering 63-ball 86 to set up the chase for India. He was toying with Pakistan pacers, hitting them across the park for fun — a knock that had six sixes and as many fours.
To be fair, Sharma has the most international sixes across formats than any other player. On Saturday, he pulled, lofted (down town as well as over cover), swept, lapped, cut, used his feet, and slogged every Pakistan bowler across the Narendra Modi Stadium.
If the the pull shot he played against Shaheen Shah Afridi — Sharma got into his front foot stride, stood tall and hooked the left-arm pacer into the stands — was one for ages, the way he pulled Haris Rauf into square leg, from a similar position would be etched in the memories. Then there was the loft over cover off a slower ball from Rauf.
He made six-hitting look ridiculously easy that anyone could do that. But it is not. Sharma’s ability to time the ball to six easily comes from the time he has spent trying to middle every delivery he faced over the years. “His ability is such that he middles every ball. When he plays a shot, the ball meets the best part of the bat," says Dinesh Lad, Sharma’s childhood coach. "I never had to tell him how to play a particular ball. He picks the ball early, and the lines early, I never had to explain. He has the extra time to play the shots he wants. He would be in the grounds from morning till evening. He gave all his time to the sport and that is why he has performed the way he has,” the proud coach added.
It is not just about his six-hitting though. Unlike the better part of the 2010s, Sharma’s game has changed significantly since he started opening in Tests. That he had to face the new red ball meant Sharma worked on his stance and back-lift. And the results are there to see — his numbers as a Test opener are among the best at the moment.
In many ways, his game has filtered into his white-ball batting as well. He is not as expansive as he used to be, especially early on. “Earlier, if you see his footage, the bat used to be down and there was a a circular motion of the bat in his downswing. But now you can very well notice that ever since he's become an excellent Test cricketer, he has reduced that downswing. He keeps the bat upright in the set up. And, yes, he has made a conscious effort to play the ball close to his body,” former cricketer and coach Amol Muzumdar observed in a conversation with this daily.
Sharma’s routine at the crease is simple. Stand in leg-stump, shuffle a bit across with a forward press as the pacer runs in. The bat is just above his knees, coming down straight depending on where he wants to meet the ball. A full delivery and he goes forward with his front foot press. If it's short, Sharma quickly shifts weight on backfoot to play the pull or cut while still being on the front foot. Not many in the world can do that and be as successful as the opener is.
Along with that, the aggressive approach in the first ten overs has changed the way Sharma and India are batting in ODIs. His power play strike rate progression from 2015-2023 in ODI WCs says it all — 77.17 (2015), 83.66 (2019) and 153.16 (2023). Yes, you read it right. Sharma has been batting at 153.16 SR in this WC when the field is up. If one needs a larger sample size, here are some numbers. Since 2022, Sharma scores at 110.86 SR in the power play. The only openers who are a part of the 2023 WC and above Sharma are Mitchell Marsh (116.27) and Travis Head (126.51).
After the Pakistan clash, Pandya asked how Sharma has been able to hit the bowlers like he was batting on PlayStation. And this is what Sharma had to say: “I have been trying to bat like this in the last two years. The wickets are good so I want to play my shots. I know I missed out on a hundred today. In our team, we have quite a few conventional players and someone has to change the game a little bit” Sharma might have missed out on a hundred — it could have been his eighth in ODI WCs, 32nd overall.
However, what he is doing is bigger than that. After trying for a year and a half, Sharma is at the forefront, changing how India bat in the 50-over format. He has understood the need for the change up front and has decided to do it himself, allowing the rest to bat the way they want to. For who better to lead the way than the captain himself on the biggest stage?
