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England pacer Mark Wood named Rohit Sharma as the toughest batter he has ever faced through different stagges of his career. Wood recalled how he tried to cause trouble for Rohit by bowling short deliveries, but instead ended up getting 'smoked' by the Indian batter. The speedster further remarked that he felt that Rohit's bat was big and it just kept on getting wider.
Rohit's record against Wood
Rohit played a total of 9 ODIs against Wood, scoring 113 runs at a blistering average of 56.50 and getting out to him on two occasions. When it comes to Tests, Rohit scored 92 runs in four matches, maintaining a brilliant average of 46.
“In different stages of my career, I would say Rohit Sharma. Difficult because against the short ball, you feel like you, for myself, I’ve got a chance of getting him out, but also if he’s on that day, he smokes it. So, he was difficult. I always felt like his bat was big, just kept getting wider!" Wood said on The Overlap.
Wood named three other batters who caused a lot of problems for him in Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh. The 35-year-old labelled Kohli as an 'unbelievable competitor' and added that he wasn't able to properly identify the Indian batter's weakness.
“Kohli, obviously. Unbelievable competitor, someone that I felt you have this weakness of fourth, fifth stump drag him in. But he never seemed to miss one when I bowl him there. So, that was difficult. Smith, because he’s so unorthodox, you think you can get him LBW, but he doesn’t miss it… And Marsh," Wood added.
Additionally, former England cricketer David Lloyd asked Wood about the approach he would go for while bowling to India's Rishabh Pant. The pacer feels that a bowler will need to hold his nerve while bowling to Pant as the wicketkeeper-batter has many unpredictable shots in his locker.
“I think you’ve got to hold your nerve. That’s basically what I would say. I think you have to be sort of unpredictable but that plays into his hands, that he can just stand there and wait for anything difficult. But if you’re the same all the time, then he can, he’s got such a good eye, he sort of hits it where he wants. So, I think you’ve got to have a mixture of hold your nerve to maybe the old ball that’s a bit unpredictable, whether it’s a slower ball or you might change up with a really high bouncer or a fast yorker like something slightly different," Wood stated.
Meanwhile, Wood's next assignment in international cricket will likely be The Ashes. The 35-year-old, who underwent a surgery in March, 2025 is yet to make a return to competitive cricket and will definitely be eager to get back on the field as soon as he can.
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