The legendary Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar advised Rohit Sharma that he should try to spend more time at the crease rather than trying for a brisk start. Gautam Gambhir, head coach of India, defended Rohit’s approach after India’s victory in the Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal against Australia, stating that the impact by which the star batter is judged is ‘impact’ and not his numbers. Gavaskar, however, did not like the comment and said if Rohit the batsman can occupy the crease for 25 to 30 overs, he can take the game away from the opponents and that constitutes an important part of his game too.
“This is something he has been doing for the last couple of years. Somewhere around the World Cup in India, he stuck to that formula. He has had success with it, but maybe not enough for the talent that he has. He is a seriously talented player with the actual talent of playing shots that very few guys in the game can,” Gavaskar told India Today.
“So, aesthetically, if I move away from a perspective of crowd-pleasing, even from the perspective of looking at the players or team, the batsman for even 25 overs will be putting 180-200 on the board. Imagine in just these 25 overs, if he has lost only a couple of wickets; just think what they will do-they will be scoring 350 and above.”
Gavaskar added that Rohit must be thinking about it; being in the zone to score quick runs would not maybe be enough.
“One was aggressive batting; it was more of an aggressor type of mentality. But he should start to have that discretionary punching, giving him the chance to be there for 25-30 overs. If he does that, he takes the game away from the opposition,” added Gavaskar.
“That kind of impact is match-winning. And I think, as a batter, are you happy with scoring 25-30 runs? You shouldn’t be! So that is what I would say to him: your impact on the team will be even greater if you bat for 25 overs instead of just seven, eight, or nine overs.”