Former Indian cricketer and commentator Dinesh Karthik highlighted that Rohit Sharma has faced struggles on numerous occasions against Tim Southee in international cricket. Rohit Sharma wasn’t able to even open his account and was dismissed by Tim Southee.
Tim Southee: A Big Challenge For Rohit Sharma
Rohit has been dismissed fourteen times by Southee, who has made him one of the favorites from his kitty, almost alongside South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada. Four of those dismissals have come in Tests, and Southee seems to have some answers to Kohli’s batting as well. Karthik commented that the approach he had taken to that delivery was not a good one, suggesting perhaps he could have played it differently.
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“The ball was swinging a bit and Southee has had his number quite a few times. If you want me to get into stats, 14 times he has dismissed him in international cricket. He probably has an edge over Rohit a little bit. Hence, he is aware that he is the bowler that Rohit does not fancy as much, so the batter was just taking his time. He came out defensive,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.
Dinesh Karthik Critiques Rohit Sharma’s Unfortunate Dismissal
“That was a stock, standard ball for Southee. There was nothing great about it. Yes, it swung a little bit from the stumps, but that is what good international bowlers do. Rohit got out to a ball which he should not have. It might look good on screen. He played the ball rather badly. The way he defended was not the best way to defend that ball,” Karthik said.
Since the Dharamsala Test against England in March, Rohit has struggled to find his rhythm in Test cricket, though he did score a half-century in the second innings of the Bengaluru Test against the Black Caps, and was dismissed for single-digit scores five times in his last seven innings, again marking a testing phase in his form.
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In Tests Rohit Sharma has scored 4233 runs in 62 matches. This includes 12 centuries and 18 half-centuries.