Rohit's strike rotation vs spin is atrocious. He defends the ball 12% of the time and hasn't scored a single run off this shot since 2022.
He has terrible SRs while playing cover-drives, on-drives and flicks too (all <125). And he isn't good at any of the main scoring shots.
MYTH
#1
: Rohit destroys you once he is set
Unlike in ODIs, he just doesn't. Despite the prevalent notion that his T20 problem is that he is being dismissed early, that isn't the case.
His SR after facing 20 balls is 142.4 in the IPL. In
#IPL2024
as well, it's under 150.
Rohit isn't good at preserving his wicket either. In the IPL, he averages 22.73 after facing 20 balls. This year, it's even worse, at 21.4.
Rohit has faced >30 balls only once in IPL 2024, during his ton vs CSK. In that knock, he had 135 SR in the 30-50 ball phase.
Most of the myths surrounding Rohit are a result of format mixing.
In ODIs, he's excellent in the powerplay.
In Tests, he's superb against swing and sweeps spinners with aplomb.
In T20s, he's unequivocally terrible at all 3.
It's about time we realized that. Let's bust them.
MYTH
#2
: Rohit can replicate his ODI powerplay exploits in T20s
While the idea is believable, the reality is far from it. Since IPL 2015, he has 29.6 avg and 128.7 SR in the powerplay.
In
#IPL2024
, Rohit has 32.3 avg and 146.7 SR, but even then, his control rate is just 68%.
One of the reasons behind people believing that Rohit can replicate his ODI powerplay exploits in T20s is his prowess against swing, which we've see in the longer formats.
But the data, and the eye test, suggests that he isn't very good at that either.
MYTH
#3
: Rohit can counter swing in T20s
Since IPL 2022, Rohit has 21 avg and 123.53 against balls that swing 2.5 degrees or more.
Even the average batter has similar numbers - 23.6 avg and 111 SR, with similar dot% and control%.
This reflects in Rohit's struggles against left-arm pacers.
That's not the only thing he's bad at. He's terrible against leg-spinners and left-arm spinners too. He's also terrible against......you get the idea.
India's T20I captain has NO positive matchups among ALL 6 styles of bowling over the last 3 IPL seasons. Let that sink in. The data says that you can bowl literally anyone to him, and he won't do well.
MYTH
#4
: Rohit Sharma is a good player of spin
Yes he is, in Tests, and to some extent ODIs. In T20s, he's downright horrible.
One of his biggest weapons in the longer formats, the sweep, doesn't yield any returns.
Rohit has 13.5 avg while playing the sweep since IPL 2022, a shot he plays 14% of the time. His SR, control% and boundary% are all worse than the average batter's.
The cut is the ONLY shot type against which Rohit has a 30+ avg (min 5 attempts). The misery doesn't end there.
There isn't much else to say about Rohit's spin game. He doesn't have good numbers on any metric, and having him at the crease outside the powerplay could turn out to be a real problem for India.
MYTH
#5
: Rohit Sharma is good at picking the length against pace
Admittedly, Rohit is good against full lengths and out-and-out short balls. But his numbers are terrible in the 6-10m range (good + hard).
To summarize, the numbers suggest that Rohit Sharma is a player who isn't good:
-> In the powerplay
-> Against swing
-> Outside the powerplay
-> Against all styles of pace
-> Against all styles of spin
-> Against most lengths
Among these weaknesses, some are exaggerated:
-> Left-arm pace
-> Wrist-spin (googlies in particular)
-> Left-arm spin
-> Strike rotation
-> Shot variety
-> Length conversion ability
On merit, Rohit Sharma clearly doesn't belong in India's T20 World Cup squad.
That said, though, the world-class players always have a way of proving people wrong, even when the odds are as stacked as they seem to be against Rohit.
If Rohit does have a good World Cup, it will go down in history as one of the greatest achievements - a player defying all odds and overcoming all his weaknesses to somehow perform for his country on the quintessential big stage.
Until then, however, we can only wait and watch.