Rohit Sharma [92(41)] Against Australia in the 2024 T20 World Cup.© X (Twitter)
India's legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar criticised his broadcaster Star Sports for using a graphic about Rohit Sharma's weakness against left-arm pacers during India's Super 8 encounter against Australia in the 2024 T20 World Cup. While Rohit's flaws against left-arm pacers are widely known, he scored 29 runs in one over of left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc, ending his innings of 92 runs off 41 balls. However, after Starc dismissed Rohit, Star Sports put up a graphic about Rohit's dismissals against left-arm pacers, which angered Gavaskar.
“Thinking about Rohit Sharma again, he got out to a left-hander (left-arm pacer). So before the next match, are we going to have another segment about his weakness against left-handers?” asked a surprised Gavaskar.
Aaron Finch, sitting next to Gavaskar in the commentary box, argued that there are plenty of left-arm pacers nowadays, including not just Starc for Australia, but also the likes of Trent Boult (New Zealand) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (Pakistan).
Finch justified the graphic, saying, “There are more left-arm bowlers playing now and they are really swing bowlers. So that is a challenge for the opener.”
Gavaskar responded by saying that this was not an issue worth highlighting.
“I don't think you should pay too much attention to it. If you are playing aggressive shots when the ball is swinging, you will get out LBW or bowled,” said Gavaskar, the first player to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket.
Rohit Sharma played one of the best innings of the 2024 T20 World Cup while his opening partner Virat Kohli got out for his second duck in the tournament. Gavaskar has recently come under fire on social media for his alleged biased analysis of the dismissals of two batsmen.
One user had tweeted, “Commentators create a divide between players and fans.” This tweet was made after Gavaskar criticised Kohli's shot selection against Bangladesh and called Rohit's approach selfless.
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