Follow UsRohit Sharma has looked to be more aggressive early on in this season and, as a result of this, has either got MI some good starts or has been dismissed early on in the innings. Nine of his 14 dismissals in this season have come in the first six overs. The transformation started in early 2022 when Sharma led a change in batting approach for the Indian team in both ODIs and T20Is.
Elaborating on his approach and the changing style of batting in T20s, the Mumbai Indians skipper stated that anchors have become obsolete in T20s at the moment and anchors are no more the need of the hour.
"As I see it, there is no role for an anchor now. It is just how T20 cricket is played these days unless you are 20 for 3 or 4, which is not going to happen every day," Rohit said in a recent interview with Jio Cinema. "Once in a while, you will be in that position and then someone needs to anchor the innings and finish off to a good score. [But] there is no role for an anchor anymore, guys are playing differently."
"If you do not change your mindset, you are going to get smashed. People on the other side are thinking about the game differently and taking it to the next level. All seven batters need to play their role, I believe that if you get a good score, it is good, but even if you get a good 30-40 off just 10-15 or 20 balls, it is as good because you are doing the role for the team. The game has changed."
"I just want to play that way and see what I can do. I have played this format for a long time and in a certain manner. But I want to do different things now. While doing that, [if] I get out, [it] does not really bother me. If you see, in Chennai and before that in Mohali, I got out for zero. In the third game, against RCB, I stepped down the first ball. I thought I have failed thrice in as many attempts, but it is fine, this is what I am going to do,” Rohit added.
However, Rohit added that he wouldn’t move to all-out power-hitting because he could hit sixes just enough to clear the fences.
"I know I cannot match the power of guys like Tim David, Kieron Pollard and Cameron Green. They are powerful hitters; they can hit 100 metres easily. But my thinking is that if I am getting a six after 65-70 metres, I only have to hit 80 metres. Why do I need to hit 100 metres? I will do that once you allow eight runs for it.
"I will hit 80 metres only because I am getting six runs for it, and for that I need to time the ball. I do not need to muscle the ball like the other guys do - that is their strength. My strength is to get the ball in the middle of the bat, which is what we call the sweet spot."