Ravichandran Ashwin on Monday (December 1) credited former captain and coach duo of Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid for India’s revolution in ODI cricket towards aggressive batting. He said Dravid came with the philosophy that batting can’t just be about ‘average’ but also needs to be about strike rate, while Rohit led from the front, implementing it whenever he went out to open the innings.
This change was brought on from around the 2022 season, culminating in the 2023 World Cup. Despite it being his biggest tournament, Rohit batted at a strike rate of 125.95, scoring almost 600 runs in 11 innings. He was well supported by the likes of Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer, who used their experience to control the tempo in the middle-overs. Combined with
India’s excellent bowling, it worked beautifully until the final.
“Rohit as a captain has always been laying his stamp by showing the team what he wants from it,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel. “The transitional batting that India has gone through in T20 cricket and ODI cricket –the way we bat fast — a lot of credit for that goes to Rohit and Rahul bhai. They showed the way, Rahul bhai said this is how we have to play and Rohit showed the way..paved the way and eventually it has changed the way how Indian perceived batting. Batting is not average, it is purely strike rate in white ball cricket,” he added.
India’s ODI team is now half-struck in a transition. Rohit and Kohli are still around and firing but there are doubts on whether they could continue till the 2027 World Cup, leaving the team in a tricky state where they cannot use the limited ODI matches to give exposure to youngsters either.
‘Something wrong in squad selection’: Ashwin
Injuries to new captain Shubman Gill, Iyer and Hardik Pandya in the ongoing ODI series against South Africa have given a new look to the team. Ruturaj Gaikwad, who is an opener by trade, batted at number four in the first ODI, with Washington Sundar at five and KL Rahul in a more demanding role at number six.
Ashwin questioned why the team is not picking Nitish Kumar Reddy as a like-for-like replacement for Pandya.
“If we are not able to find a place for Nitish Kumar Reddy in a team that does not have Hardik Pandya, then there is something wrong in the squad selection, seriously. Why was he picked? Because the fact that he can give what Hardik can give, and can get better over a period of time. But, if we can’t find a place for Nitish Kumar Reddy in this particular XI, then the squad selection must be properly reviewed,” Ashwin said.
