Nagpur, Feb 6 India captain Rohit Sharma's woeful form with the bat continued as the 37-year-old got out for a seven-ball 2 in the first ODI against England at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium here on Thursday.
Playing his first ODI at home since the 2023 World Cup in which he re-introduced himself as an all-out aggressive batter, Rohit struggled to time the ball and spooned an easy catch to mid-on as he attempted to whip an inswinger off his legs but got the toe-end off the bat.
It was a disappointing end for the India captain in a format in which he is considered the best-ever as the only batter to score three double-hundreds and has the highest-ever individual score of 264 in an ODI.
It is ironic that Rohit fared poorly again as the India captain has taken exception to questions on his recent poor form in the pre-match press conference and tried to ridicule the questioner. The India captain had a disappointing Test series against New Zealand and in Australia, where he pulled out of the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series citing his poor form.
But on Wednesday, he was a bit rattled by the question. "What kind of a question is that? This is a different format, different times. As cricketers, we know that there will be ups and downs and I have faced a lot in my career so this is nothing new to me. We know every day is a fresh day, every series is a fresh series," Rohit had said on Wednesday.
He went on to add that he was looking forward to batting in the ODI series and not dwelling on his recent failures in Test cricket.
"So yeah, I'm looking forward to the challenge, not looking at what has happened in the past. So obviously for me, there is no reason to look behind too much. A lot of good things have happened as well, so it's important that I focus on what is coming up and what lies ahead for me and it is as simple as that, look to try and start the series on a high. Let's see what happens," said Rohit.
But on Thursday, he could not walk the talk and got out tamely, his failure to score ahead of the Champions Trophy will add to the concerns over his poor form again.
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