India might change their strategy based on the type of conditions they face after losing their first ODI cricket series to Sri Lanka in 27 years due to the spin-friendly pitches. Sri Lanka took full advantage of the conditions, with their spin bowlers confusing the Indian batters on slow and turning pitches, leading to a 2-0 victory in the three-match series, including a 110-run loss in the final game.
Rohit said, “I don’t think our players aren’t trying hard enough to play different shots. You saw them trying moves like the reverse sweep and paddle — that’s not typical for their batting style,” after India was all out for 138 while chasing 249 in the third ODI on Wednesday.
“We need to be very clear about our playing style and how to maintain our momentum when we play on pitches like this. We’ve come up short three times now, including the first game that ended in a tie.
“We need to communicate to the players what we expect from them, and if we need to make changes in our team selection to achieve that, we’ll have to do it, even though it’s not ideal. We’ll work on becoming a strong team in all types of conditions,” the Indian captain stated.
Rohit mentioned that the Indian batters were not consistently brave and did not have specific plans for handling the spin challenge.
“When I talk about bravery, it doesn’t mean the players weren’t brave. You need to show bravery all the time. You need to be brave when the pitches are a bit tricky and you’re facing tough bowlers, trying to hit different types of shots. It really depends on each person’s strategy,” he explained.
“Everyone should know their own strategy and how they plan to play. If the pitch matches your strategy, that’s great. Try to challenge the bowlers. If it doesn’t match, think about other options like stepping forward, aiming for a single, and so on. The key to batting on slow pitches…” Speaking about the Sri Lankan batters, Rohit mentioned: “They consistently played the sweep shot. They took risks with that shot. Not many runs were scored by hitting the ball straight,” the Indian captain noted.
“They didn’t use their feet as much as we expected. They mostly just pushed the ball and sent it past the deep square leg and deep mid-wicket fielders, which is something we didn’t manage to do as a batting team,” he added.
Rohit mentioned that the Indian batters might be lacking confidence, even though they have played on such pitches since they were young.
“All of us grew up playing on slow pitches. We didn’t grow up playing on pitches that bounce a lot. The pitches we played on were often slow and turned a lot,” he said.
“But it’s important to have your own plan and believe that it’s good enough to succeed on these kinds of pitches. I don’t want to criticize because whenever I’ve asked them to try different things, they’ve done so.” Rohit doesn’t think a deep analysis of India’s loss is necessary right now.
Rohit, who scored 58, 64, and 35 in the three one-day international matches, continued to play aggressively at the beginning of the innings and explained his strategy.
“I believe that the runs scored during the power play are extremely important. As a batter, you need to take risks. I took those risks whenever I felt I could put pressure on the bowler. Any runs you score early on help the team for the remaining 40 overs.
“You can take your time, observe the pitch and conditions, and see how the ball is behaving. My personal goal was to score as many runs as possible during the power play.
“It’s not that I wanted to get out after the power play. I needed to keep up the same pace and intention. Sadly, I got out. But my approach to batting is very straightforward and simple,” he explained.
