“Taking singles is as vital as hitting boundaries in ODI cricket and Check matches. Possibly not as a lot in T20 format. That is one thing that Virat has achieved so nicely in his profession.”
“That is one thing that we’ve got checked out Virat and tried to study. Even within the dressing room, all of us speak to him and Rohit about how we will get higher as batters and the way we will rotate the strike much more. He’s clearly a grasp of doing that in ODI cricket.”
KL Rahul’s remark earlier than the first ODI between India and South Africa in Ranchi arrived casually, nevertheless it carried the burden of a fact Indian cricket has recognized for years.
It was a reminder that the trendy Indian ODI facet lives on the intersection of two solely totally different batting philosophies. In early 2023, beneath Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid, India sharpened a extra proactive limited-overs id — intent from ball one, more durable swings within the powerplay, fewer sighters, extra injury. The blueprint was borrowed by white-ball sides, coached by Gautam Gambhir.
However at the same time as India’s blueprint tilted in direction of Rohit’s worldview, the staff’s most dependable batter continued to thrive by an method that appears virtually old style as compared.
Two creators. Two types. Two roads to the identical peak.
ROHIT SHARMA: THE HITMAN
If the Rohit–Dravid years have a soundtrack, it begins with Rohit’s bat within the first ten overs. India’s shift towards a front-foot ODI philosophy did not emerge out of tactical experiments — it took form as a result of India understood the necessity for reinvention and the necessity to catch-up with modern-day calls for of white-ball cricket.
Rohit’s ODI profession is a research in boundary dominance55,91% of his runs have are available in fours and sixes — a determine that locations him above almost each trendy nice, Even AB de Villiers, whose batting usually regarded like a blueprint for the long run, sits decrease at 47,86%, And Sachin Tendulkar, whose profession spanned eras and reinvented the ODI opener’s position, completed at 50,11%, Rohit is not only a boundary-hitter; within the context of ODI historical past, he’s an outlier,
The six inform their very own story. 349 of them — solely two wanting Shahid Afridi’s all-time document. Solely Chris Gayle has additionally crossed 300.
When India dedicated to the “go early, go exhausting” method from January 2023, Rohit pressed more durable on the accelerator than anybody may have predicted. On this interval, a staggering 71.50% of his runs got here in boundaries.
And his common, 51.78, reveals the tactic is not reckless. It is a managed blaze.
On the 2023 World Cup, the place India rode his powerplay surges, Rohit’s boundary proportion climbed even increased to 75.37%. His innings did not merely set tempos; They tore by opposition bowling plans.
VIRAT KOHLI: THE METRONOME
After which, in the identical XI, stands Virat Kohli — a batsman who resists each the style and the temptation of the period.
The place Rohit offers in injury, Kohli trades in singles. His boundaries seem commonly sufficient, however they don’t outline him: 43.77% of his profession runs come from fours and sixes, dramatically decrease than Rohit’s and even decrease than Tendulkar’s or AB de Villiers’. He stands nearer to Kane Williamson’s 41.73%, a batter whose magnificence is admired however whose scoring weight would not match Kohli’s quantity.
The distinction, although, would not lie within the boundary column — it lies between them. Kohli has collected 5907 singles in ODIs, probably the most by any batsman since 2000.
It’s how he bends matches over lengthy spells, how he retains bowlers trying to find dots they not often discover, how he constructs innings that really feel inevitable lengthy earlier than they develop into iconic. Kohi constructed his physique for this recreation. Even beneath stress, in probably the most humid situations, Kohli cannot cease pushing the balls into gaps and discovering ones and twos.
What makes Kohli extraordinary is that even India’s aggressive 2023 shift didn’t alter his technique. His boundary proportion since that pivot — 44.28% — stays virtually similar to his profession pattern. But his common in the identical interval soared to 59.76, increased than Rohit’s and Shubman Gill’s. Gill, by the best way, represents the trendy Indian ODI mould with a 59.59% boundary proportion since 2023 — vibrant, proactive, and in sync with the staff’s path. Kohli, in the meantime, stayed precisely who he has at all times been — and nonetheless outperformed almost all of them.
On the 2023 World Cup, the place he amassed a document 766 runssolely 42.61% arrived in boundaries. The remaining got here from sweat, repetition, angles, and conviction.
In T20Is, folks questioned the tempo of this technique, questioned his anchoring, questioned whether or not the format had outgrown him. However in ODIs, no person doubts the structure of his recreation.
CAREER BOUNDARY PERCENTAGE
- Rohit Sharma: 55.91%
- Sachin Tendulkar: 50.11%
- AB de Villiers: 47.86%
- Virat Kohli: 43.77%
- Kane Williamson: 41.73%
BOUNDARY PERCENTAGE SINCE JAN 2023
- Rohit: 71.50% (1916 runs @ 51.78)
- Shubman Gill: 59.59% (2131 runs @ 56.07)
- Kohli: 44.28% (1784 runs @ 59.76)
BOUNDARY PERCENTAGE AT 2023 WORLD CUP
- Rohit: 75.37% (597 runs)
- Kohli: 42.61% (766 runs, document tally)
SIXES x SINGLES
349: Rohit wants three extra sixes to interrupt the world document for many sixes in ODIs.
5907: No batsman in world cricket has scored extra singles than Virat in ODIs since 2000.
THE DUALITY THAT MAKES INDIA WHOLE
The fantastic thing about India’s ODI batting lies on this pressure: a thunderbolt at one finish, a tide on the different. Rohit fractures a match; Kohli shapes it.
Rohit creates respiratory room for everybody; Kohli ensures no oxygen reaches the opposition.
Tendulkar, De Villiers, Williamson, and Gill — their numbers all serve one level: the ODI format permits a number of paths to mastery. However solely India have two batsmen who sit on the extremes of that spectrum and nonetheless dominate the identical period with virtually symmetrical success.
Two males on the prime of the lineage show that ODI greatness has no single blueprint. Rohit and Kohli take totally different roads. However within the historical past books, they hold arriving on the similar vacation spot.
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