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Aaron Finch believes that the reason Rohit Sharma can attack bowlers freely is because of the assuredness the presence of Virat Kohli batting at no.3 provides.
Rohit Sharma (left) and Virat Kohli take a run during Champions Trophy. (AFP Photo)
Rohit Sharma has shifted his batting approach as he nears the end of his stellar playing career. The India ODI captain has turned more aggressive with the bat and the change has worked wonders for India especially in the ICC white-ball competitions where they have lost just one match across three events including the 2023 ODI World Cup, 2024 T20 World Cup and the recent Champions Trophy.
Rohit and Virat Kohli have been the batting mainstay for India across formats for a long time now. The duo retired on a high from T20Is after playing key role in India’s victorious campaign at the world cup last year. In the Tests and ODIs, India’s batting continues to revolve around them.
Former Australia batter Aaron Finch believes that the reason why opener Rohit can attack bowlers from the word go is because of the cushion Kohli provides him.
“When you look, when Rohit’s made that conscious decision, he’s had Virat coming in behind him at number three,” Finch told PTI. “So, there’s an ability for him to say, ‘you know what, I’ve got the guy behind that will fix any mistakes that I make.’ But you can’t have everybody in the team just looking to swing for the fences from ball one. So that’s a really, that’s a good question. And I understand that Rohit’s done that, and he’s been very successful doing it.”
With Kohli now set to switch focus back to T20 cricket as the IPL 2025 gets underway, Finch thinks that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru superstar has the ability to bat at a higher strike-rate.
However, Finch adds that the reason why Kohli hasn’t adopted an aggressive approach is due to the fact that he’s more often than not found himself digging RCB out from a hole which makes attack a risky endeavour.
“Maybe if his (Kohli’s) strike rate goes from 140 to 150, he can absolutely do that. No issues whatsoever. But how many times has he been in a situation where he’s had to almost dig RCB out of the hole because everybody else has fallen around him?” Finch said.
“So like I said before, I would bank the runs every day of the week from a top three player. Because that gives the rest of the order so much freedom. That gives you the option to be more aggressive from the other batters,” he added.