Rohit Sharma is regarded as one of the best and most admired captains of the sport. However, the recent Test series where India was defeated 3-0 raised eyebrows concerning the Rohit as captain debate. Rohit has the pressure from the fans to perform well in the series against Australia, and it makes people question if Rohit will be sacked from his captain’s role when India performs badly in Australia. Now the New Zealand sensation Will Young has come forth and disclosed how easily he busted Rohit’s tactics making the Indian captain alter his game plans for the Kiwis.
Will Young remembered that tour in a recent interview with ESPNCricinfo, especially his and some other batters against spinners’ works on their skills during the India tour.
We went back to India in 2021 for a two-Test match series that was played in Kanpur and Mumbai and the current batting group here is the same threesome that had last toured three years ago,” he said.
“So I guess in the broader context of the question, one can say that there has been learning ever since. And there have definitely been many tours to the subcontinent, to Bangladesh, to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and even some spinning conditions back home at times. There was always the desire to learn to adjust and improve as batsmen,” the batter added.
Referring to 2024 responsibilities, Young noticed that Rohit and Jadeja’s worked out the strategy of suffocating him by preventing scoring from the mid-off region. Young however was able to force Rohit to adjust the tactic on a very short notice as he was able to formulate an effective counter plan.
“I remember one situation which was actually in Mumbai where Jadeja had made mid-off an attacking position. For most of the series he had left him back as he was extremely happy for the right-handers to attempt to graze the ball towards the off side and bring the slips into play. But in this particular passage of play, Jadeja and Rohit made up their minds to bring mid-off up.”
“And I believed that if the ball was around the full mark, I will try and reach out for it suffocate the spin and hit straight over the top. And I had a word with Daryl Mitchell about it in between overs and he said, ‘Yeah, mate, just back yourself.’”
“Stay down through the shot or something similar is how I think he expressed it. He’s obviously very good at it himself. Hitting the ball straight I mean. So I took the opportunity when it presented itself and the fielder went back, and I could keep on batting from there,” he said.
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