Trailing by 27 runs, Team India started on a cautious note on Day 4 of the ongoing Test match against England at the Lord’s. The men in blue had a tough Day 3, and the batsmen were looking for a momentum shift. However, in the opening few hours, the tide has shifted back to England after a Rohit Sharma’s pull shot that did not come off well.
Indian openers start cautiously
Similar to the first innings, the Indian openers yet again started the innings cautiously. While Rohit Sharma went after a few deliveries, KL Rahul was content with blocking most of what he faced. However, with 18 runs on the board, KL edged one to Jos Buttler of Mark Wood‘s bowling and hence, lost his wicket. India was still nine runs off the deficit at that point in time.
Rohit Sharma’s pull shot does not come off
With KL Rahul gone and the under confident Cheteshwar Pujara at the crease, anyone might have expected Rohit Sharma to bide his time. However, in the third delivery of the 12th over of the game, Mark Wood bowled a short delivery to Rohit. The Mumbai cricketer pulled it to the stands to bring India’s first six of the game.
Just two balls later, Wood bowled another short ball, and Rohit repeated the shot. However, this time around, he was not in control. Moeen Ali was also pushed back to the boundary in a catching position. It was an easy catch for the all-rounder, and Team India had scores level with the openers back in the hut.
Statistician decodes Rohit Sharma’s pull shot
After Rohit Sharma got out to his pull shot, a statistician decoded the batsman’s success rate with the shot in this series. As per the statistics, Rohit has played the hook or pull shot ten times in the series. While he has got out twice, he has also got 26 runs. Ollie Robinson took Rohit’s wicket in a similar fashion in the first innings of the first Test match.
Andy Zaltzman, TMS statistician:
Advertisement"Rohit Sharma has played the hook or pull shot 10 times in this series. Two sixes, two fours and two dismissals. Overall it's 26-2 on that shot."
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