Rohit Sharma who holds the record for highest individual score in ODIs is not worried about his average anymore. Rohit is happy with the outcome even if it comes at the cost of daddy hundreds. In a bid to play high-risk shots, his batting average has taken a hit but he feels that batting on Indian pitches has become more difficult compared to overseas of late.
"Look at my recent Test innings in India. I can tell you that batting in India is much more difficult now than batting overseas, especially in the last 2-3 years. "The pitches that we have played on, it is more challenging than overseas. That's why we haven't spoken about runs and averages of batting unit. All of us agreed that we want to play on challenging pitches. I don't want to worry about what kind of averages we finish with.
"That is how I think but different players will have different thought processes, and I don't want to change that. I am going to play on pitches that suit our bowlers,” the Indian skipper told PTI on August 29.
Ahead of the Asia Cup 2023, Rohit also explained why his ODI average has taken a hit. The opener has changed his approach and wants to play more high-risk shots
"I wanted to take more risks, which is why my numbers are slightly different now," he said.
"My (ODI) strike-rate (during this period) has increased but the average has dipped a bit. This is exactly what our batting coach (Vikram Rathour) was telling me, ‘You have scored big runs because of the way you batted all these years and in the last few years, it (big runs) has not happened because you are taking risk," the 36-year-old added.
Rohit is the only batter to have three double hundreds to his name in the ODI format. In the last few years, Rohit has made a compromise which is the reason behind lack of big scores in the format.
"My career strike-rate is around 90 (89.97) but in past couple of years, if you look at my scores and take the strike-rate into consideration, it has been around 105-110. So somewhere you had to compromise. It is not possible to have a 55 average and a 110 strike-rate," he further explained.
However, the explosive opener clarified that the change in approach is purely his decision and he communicated it to the team management as well.
"It was purely my choice. My usual batting is still my patent, but I wanted to try something else. I am very happy with the result."
"Everyone wants to bat long and score those 150s and 170s. I still want to do that, but it is always nice to do something that you have not done. It only adds up in your list of batting abilities. Unless you do it, you won't know it.
"I know if I play high risk shots, I will get out few times but I didn't bother. This was communicated by me to the management that this is how I want to play."
It will be interesting to see the kind of approach he adopts against Pakistan in India’s Asia Cup 2023 opener on September 2. He has struggled against left-arm pacers and Shaheen Afridi will pose a threat with the new ball.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK
'We weren't just experimenting:' Rahul Dravid reveals why India tried multiple players in the no. 5, no. 4 batting positions
KL Rahul out of India match against Pakistan, confirms Rahul Dravid; reveals return date as well
