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India v England / News
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India v England, 4th ODI, Mohali
Rohit needed this innings - Dhoni
ESPNcricinfo staff
January 23, 2013
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Players/Officials:
MS Dhoni
| Rohit Sharma
Matches:
India v England at Mohali
Series/Tournaments:
England tour of India
Teams:
India
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MS Dhoni has said Rohit Sharma's half-century in the fourth ODI against England was a timely innings and one that would give the batsman confidence after a succession of low scores at international level.
Rohit opened in India's chase of 258 and contributed significantly to India's series-clinching victory in Mohali. He made 83 off 93 deliveries in the five-wicket win.
"I am glad he scored runs because he is one of the most god-gifted talents that is around," Dhoni said after the game. "Of course an innings like this was very much needed for him. It will give him a lot of confidence and also time at the top level. Personally I am very happy for him."
Rohit had not played in the previous three ODIs against England, with India choosing to give Ajinkya Rahane a run in the side. But after several unconvincing performances, Rahane was left out and Rohit was asked to open for only the fourth time in his ODI career.
"We all felt he is someone who can be a really good opener, in the sense he cuts and pulls really well," Dhoni said. "Also, with two openers, you want one of them to be slightly more aggressive than the other. I think he accepted the challenge, he also felt he got into the side because Manoj [Tiwary] was unfit. So it was an opportunity for him. The good thing was he took it as a challenge."
Rohit anchored the first half of India's chase, forming half-century stands with Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina, before his dismissal in the 32nd over. When asked what might have happened had Rohit not performed today, Dhoni said it was a difficult question to answer. "It's very important to think and go in one direction, not only as coach and captain but also with the selectors because at the end of the day, mutually we decide who is the best available talent and you have to give those guys a bit of a rope.
"I don't know what would have happened if Rohit had not scored runs or in any other scenario. The best that we could have done was give him another chance in Dharamsala and then see, because we are not playing too many ODIs after that. We all felt he is very talented, he got an opportunity in the last series in Sri Lanka where he got a few good deliveries."
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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Good to see Rohit perform. Although he was slow in d beginning, but later he picked up very well. He is very talented player and most important he have a class. He should have been in Test team before Virat. Virat is nodoubt good player but Rohit will be more suitable in Test considering his style of play. Any ways Its better to be late than never. Keep it up Rohit.
Good that Rohit performed..but he is lucky..because I believe this may have been one of his last chances..I feel bad for Manoj Tiwary.. Dhoni is already talking of Rohit as an aggressive opener in ODI..I guess more pressure on Sehwag, assuming his career is not over.. In the last ODI, play Pujara instead of Yuvraj, Rahane instead of Gambhir, Rohit and Raina... I am happy to see B.Kumar delivering as a bowler..I hope he is a find for the long term..Shami Ahmed may also be a find.. Nice to see India at No.1 in ODI.. But India's problems are not over..we need a complete remake of our Test Team starting from the captain..
SRT had a similar avg and no centuries at this stage...and see where he is now. even vvs was averaging 25 in tests before the 281 happened. it's obvious rohit sharma has talent - nothing wrong in giving him more breaks than normal to reach his ptential. it's not like we're losing heavily by dropping a batsman in form and favoring a walking wicket instead. with due respect to rahane, he got 2 chances and got bowled thro' the gate in both. he has class but not current form. nowhere has MSD said rahane is out of the radar for the next 10 yrs, right? it's 1 match rohit got because rahane was underperforming. so get over this hatred for rohit. and in the next match, demand rohit to open with rahane and gambhir to be dropped from the XI. and with the series won, perhaps yuvi can take a break and let pujara get a game.
He is a classical modern player...he is a world beater... he has a huge future..he is double talented than raina...he must be preffered over virat.. these are the praises poured on rohit sharma...after his international debut..,He showed his class.. &elegance. during initial days...,after that he never.. ever.. performed to his potential..,as like dhoni says.. he is really god gifted player who plays hooks & pulls with so ease.. & who times the ball so well..,but the problem is he is not executing the talent he posses... he has wasted a lot of chances..,he should be questioned.. for the commitment..he has towards the game..,at last he shined...has a opener previously he performed well as a opener in t20 wc 2009... may be he is destined to be a great opener..,he should be given few more chances if he dosent perform the selectors should say gud bye to him.. and think about other players who are lot more commited towards the game..
@Raj12345
Ref: "...He gives chance only to his frds..."
Really? Dinda, Bhuvnesh, Shami are in the team cos they are MSD's friends? Did MS play Pujara in the tests only cos he was his friend? Didn't MS play Chawla in WC league matches even when everyone wanted him to play Ashwin? Is Chawla in the team now? From Chalwa then to Ashwin now - you now say that he plays the likes of Ashwin cos they are his friends. Just how much more ridiculous can you get?
Pujara did play in tests and has to wait till a vacancy arises in the middle order of the team. But ppl like you list out 22 players that should play in the final 11 and start bashing Dhoni each time he tries 1 new player by saying he should have tried someone else or that he should have tried some more players instead of saying that yeah he did try this new player.
Ppl like you show no logic in except that you want to join the wagon that does Dhoni-bashing instead of being reasonable. Why do we have ppl like you among Ind fans?
Posted by Dravid_Gravitas on (January 26, 2013, 1:31 GMT)It's all in the genes, Dhoni. There's nothing like god gifted talent. Why would god have such a special interest on one man among 6 billion humans? Rohit needs to do justice to his talent and try to be Rohit and not Nohit.
Posted by Al_Bundy1 on (January 25, 2013, 21:18 GMT)It's a good thing that Rohit performed. But what about the other opener slot? Why can't we try Dhawan or Mukund there? Indian Selectors are living in the past - they need to think about the future. Sehwag and Gambhir are finished. Yuvraj looks jaded. Why not try Pujara, Tiwary, or Rayudu in his place? We need to find more pace bowlers because they are so injury prone. Why not give chances to top Ranji bowlers like Ishwar Pandey, Siddarth Kaul, Imtiyaz Ahmed?
Posted by Raj12345 on (January 25, 2013, 14:54 GMT)@Prats6 . You are 100% right. I am seeing this from Dhoni from past 4 years. He gives chance only to his frds. Like Raina, Rohit, Jadeja, Ashwin. No new player can break into their frdship. Puraja has to wait until Dhoni quit, the same case with DK. DK is very good middle order and was fighting for middle order place along with Kohli, Raina, RG. But DK is been permanently out of sight. But other three given chances more and Kohli become very good now. But other 2, given more and more chances... but why not DK or why not Puraja now. We are forced to live with these.
Posted by IPSY on (January 25, 2013, 13:22 GMT)alarky, I'm 100% in agreement with you. I don't know if Rohit is paying the price for being so highly rated by "a CHAPPELL"!
Posted by alarky on (January 25, 2013, 11:13 GMT)rohitsinghverma, Sachin has so many more hurdles to jump over before he catches Bradman. "Rohit Sharma must be the most UNLUCKY batsman to have played for India". When seen in Australia in 2008, at the tender age of 20, everyone thought he was the best Indian batsman on tour barring Laxman. Ian Chappell rated him very highly. He impressed so much that there were calls for his permanent fixation in the India team - people were seeing for the first time since Gavascar and M. Armanath, an Indian batsman who was playing medium fast bowling just as good as any other world class batsman on fast bouncy pitches. India cricket ignored the calls and kept playing "Has Beens" - some out of form for nearly 4 CONSECUTIVE years! The events of 2008 to 2010 is now history which has benefitted a single individual; but now to the detriment of India cricket. That period in Sharma's career caused him to lose his confidence. But I still think if favoured like Tendulkar he could be India's best batsman ever.