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Where does Rohit Sharma stand among the best players of short-pitched bowling from Asia?

Bhaijaan

Bhaijaan

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He's quite something against anything pitched short isnt he?


Phenomenal player.

Anything short he pulls for six with ease.

I dont recall many players from Asia apart from Sachin who looked so confortable against short pitch bowling.
 
Hard to say, he doesn't play Tests so really hasn't faced sustained barrage of short bowling in Tests from someone proper express like Johnson/Starc or even Gabriel/Wahab

Seems to be very good in white ball cricket though
 
Rohit is the best player of short pitch bowling in the world at the moment. Kohli is nowhere near him.
 
The second greatest ODI opener after Tendulkar. What an incredible transformation post 2012. The geniuses who decided to make him (and Dilshan open) deserve gold medals.
 
He is a beast against pacers; no matter what they bowl to him. Makes it look easy!

IMO India should persist with him in test cricket as well.
 
And no, Rohit is not even among the top 5 best batsmen in India when it comes playing quality pace and short pitched stuff. You don't earn such praise after having been exposed in tests. Pulling a few sixes in ODIs is not enough.

Virat faced a barrage of short stuff in tests and found a way to succeed unlike Rohit. That alone puts Rohit's so called accomplishments in perspective.
 
Never seen a player from this region being that good against short pitch bowling. He murders anything pitched short.

Not only from Asia, he could be the best player of short bowling in the world.
 
freelance_cricketer said:
Never seen a player from this region being that good against short pitch bowling. He murders anything pitched short.

Not only from Asia, he could be the best player of short bowling in the world.
Click to expand...

Jayasuriya was really good.

From current players, Shakib, Kusal Perera and Babar.
 
freelance_cricketer said:
Never seen a player from this region being that good against short pitch bowling. He murders anything pitched short.

Not only from Asia, he could be the best player of short bowling in the world.
Click to expand...

lol

Sharma is only good on slow tracks. Let him pull in Aus or Sa against their top pacers.
 
KingKhanWC said:
lol

Sharma is only good on slow tracks. Let him pull in Aus or Sa against their top pacers.
Click to expand...

He has done it in Australia. Even when Brett Lee was in peak of his form he played him with utmost ease in his debut ODI series. He has loads and loads of time to play shots even against good place. His only problem is deviation. Could be off the pitch or in the air. But when he is in the zone even that won't get him out.
 
Rohit definitely can play short ball very well. His only weakness is when he faces swing bowling. He often struggles.
 
Last edited:
KingKhanWC said:
lol

Sharma is only good on slow tracks. Let him pull in Aus or Sa against their top pacers.
Click to expand...

Did you come up with that statement just out of emotion or are you basing it on games you actually watched?

That was against a rampaging Starc and Cummins in 2015.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...-mid-one-day-international-tri-series-2014-15

This was actually a very spicy pitch. Look at the bowling line up

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...ca-1st-odi-south-africa-tour-of-india-2015-16

Look at this bowling line up. This was when Aussies had bounced out rest of our lineup

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...ia-15th-match-group-f-icc-world-twenty20-2010

I am pretty sure you just pulled that out of emotion :) but let us see if we can carry on this debate.

By the way Rohit struggles against swing and seam bowling, he was always known for his ability against express pace on bouncy tracks, right from his early season in 2007-2008 when he made an impact
 
Local.Dada said:
Did you come up with that statement just out of emotion or are you basing it on games you actually watched?

That was against a rampaging Starc and Cummins in 2015.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...-mid-one-day-international-tri-series-2014-15

This was actually a very spicy pitch. Look at the bowling line up

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...ca-1st-odi-south-africa-tour-of-india-2015-16

Look at this bowling line up. This was when Aussies had bounced out rest of our lineup

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...ia-15th-match-group-f-icc-world-twenty20-2010

I am pretty sure you just pulled that out of emotion :) but let us see if we can carry on this debate.

By the way Rohit struggles against swing and seam bowling, he was always known for his ability against express pace on bouncy tracks, right from his early season in 2007-2008 when he made an impact
Click to expand...

Ive watched enough of him to know. Just check his average in Aus, SA and England in tests.

Sure he's better than many Asian batsmen who struggle tradionally against the short ball but this is overhype.
 
He's just pulled Ngidi bowling at 145+ for two sixes back to back.

Don't you dare tell me there has ever been a better player of shirt bowling than The Hitman from Asia.
 
Rohit Sharma is a tremendous player of short pitch bowling but the best from Asia has to be Babar. He really has a complete game against short pitch bowling.
But Sharma is really tremendous at it and hit sixes at will with the pull.
 
Virat is a brilliant player of short pitch bowling and in past Tendulkar and Laxman were great. I will rate Rohit behind these three among Indian batters post 90s.
 
Ab Fan said:
Virat is a brilliant player of short pitch bowling and in past Tendulkar and Laxman were great. I will rate Rohit behind these three among Indian batters post 90s.
Click to expand...

Virat is good but not at the level of Rohit and Babar.
 
freelance_cricketer said:
He's just pulled Ngidi bowling at 145+ for two sixes back to back.

Don't you dare tell me there has ever been a better player of shirt bowling than The Hitman from Asia.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Sharma's good against the short ball, but I'm pretty sure Ngidi wasn't bowling 145+. Those 2 deliveries I saw were low 130s. Rabada's ball to dismiss Rohit was 128kph.
 
Lol at those people saying Babar is better at facing short pitched attack. He has hardly faced a short ball rampage and has struggled against the taller Australian pace bowlers.

Sharma is one of the greatest batsmen v short pitched bowling.
 
When it comes to hitting sixes consistently with pull shots ROhit is better than anyone i have ever seen. The time and ease with which he hits them is the most fascinating thing. He doesn't swivel much. He just reads it a tad faster and times it impeccably.

Both Rahane and Kohli put up a high quality exhibition of pull shots so much so channel 9 commies went gaga over their ability to pull. But Rohit has the ability to pull the balls that were not so short. Tendulkar could do that too. But Rohit can hit them for 90 meter sixes.
 
Mobashir said:
Virat is good but not at the level of Rohit and Babar.
Click to expand...

Babar? He is not even half as good as Rahane who handled Australian short stuffs with such authority alongwith Kohli. Infact Channel 9 termed it as one of the best pulling exhibition in Australia in a long time. Rohit is the only one who can hit them for sixes.

It is funny that nobody mentions about Rahul Dravid. He is one of the greatest ground shot puller i have seen. Kohli is up there as well. Tendulkar mixes with ground shot and airy shots. Dhoni is also a terrific puller. He can smack 150 k balls for sixes. Dinesh karthik is another great puller. Above all Rohit stands tall because of the ease with which he hits them for massive sixes.
 
A truly special, special player. It is a privilege to watch him bat. I hope his reflexes and fitness hold up and he continues to terrorize bowlers across formats for another 5-6 years.
 
I did not watch the cricketers from the 80's. Since I started watching cricket, there have been only 2 players who have ever created a sense of awe in the way they pulled and hooked the short pitch stuff. That's Ponting and Rohit. No one else comes even close. That includes Sachin and Kohli - who were decent and could do it on their day. But with Rohit and Ponting, you could bet on them to murder short pitched bowling on any surface. Aus, Eng, SA, WI...you name it, he has slayed them all.

Richie Richardson (the former WI captain), I hear was similar.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
Babar? He is not even half as good as Rahane who handled Australian short stuffs with such authority alongwith Kohli. Infact Channel 9 termed it as one of the best pulling exhibition in Australia in a long time. Rohit is the only one who can hit them for sixes.

It is funny that nobody mentions about Rahul Dravid. He is one of the greatest ground shot puller i have seen. Kohli is up there as well. Tendulkar mixes with ground shot and airy shots. Dhoni is also a terrific puller. He can smack 150 k balls for sixes. Dinesh karthik is another great puller. Above all Rohit stands tall because of the ease with which he hits them for massive sixes.
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong, there have been plenty of players who played the pull shot correctly - rool your wrists, keep it down, etc. With Ponting and Rohit, you could clearly tell sometimes when they were late on the ball, but still the ball clears the fence. Even in the game v/s Pak in the recent WC, Rohit's treatment of Hassan and Wahab was a sight to watch.

The thing is when you pull a short ball for 6, it deflates a bowler completely. Its far more exciting for the viewers too. Its not about technical correctness, rather the ability to generate the power even when your arms are bent (aka short arm jab).
 
The streak is Alive said:
Don't get me wrong, there have been plenty of players who played the pull shot correctly - rool your wrists, keep it down, etc. With Ponting and Rohit, you could clearly tell sometimes when they were late on the ball, but still the ball clears the fence. Even in the game v/s Pak in the recent WC, Rohit's treatment of Hassan and Wahab was a sight to watch.

The thing is when you pull a short ball for 6, it deflates a bowler completely. Its far more exciting for the viewers too. Its not about technical correctness, rather the ability to generate the power even when your arms are bent (aka short arm jab).
Click to expand...

No matter who is better Rohit is the one who made that agricultural shot a graceful shot. Because when you first start playing cricket most natural shot that comes to anyone is pull shot. By nature it is a violent shot unlike drives. But with Rohit it is all grace. There is an air of ease, elegance not violence in his pull shots. There was a brief period when Dilshan was batting like a man possessed. He had excellent pull shots. But they were all agricultural. Mad max Aravinda was another compulsive hook shot player.
 
That six against Starc from Babar, wow.
A truly brilliant player of short pitch bowling.
 
Mobashir said:
That six against Starc from Babar, wow.
A truly brilliant player of short pitch bowling.
Click to expand...

Yeah that was one good shot. He was probably setting up for the fuller one, saw it short, rocked back and smashed a pull from above his eye line.

Rohit and Babar have to be the 2 best players against the short ball in Asia. Babar has a bit more to prove before he overtakes Rohit though. Babar played the short ball well in South Africa.

I remember he hit 4 short balls in an over from Duanne Olivier for 4, while the rest of the lineup had no clue how to play him. He should do well in the tests in Australia.
 
On wickets with true bounce, Rohit Sharma is the greatest player of short pitch bowling of all-time.
 
He's pulled four sixes tonight so far.

Two to Cummins
Two to Russel

Putting on a show
 
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