India opener Rohit Sharma has defended playing “his shots” after falling to a pull shot of Ollie Robinson on the second day of the first Test against England at Trent Bridge. He said that England bowlers were disciplined enough to not offer him and KL Rahul any free scoring opportunities, and hence it was not irresponsible of him to play shots he has been playing in his career.
“Like you said it is my shot, so I have to play shots, as we saw in the first hour of play, we did not get any loose balls and their bowlers were quite disciplined,” Rohit said at the post-day press conference.
“So, you have to take your odd chances when the ball is there, you got to punish them. Of course, you know, when it’s around the time of close of play, you feel disappointed and that is what I am feeling about it (the dismissal),” he added.
India looked steady till the end of first session on Day 2 after Rohit and KL Rahul had put 97 for the first wicket. However, the middle order collapsed after Rohit's wicket just at the stroke of the lunch on the second day. Captain Virat Kohli, Cheteswar Pujara were sent back to the pavilion by James Anderson while Ajinkya Rahane ran himself out before the play was halted due to rain.
India were 125/4 before stumps were called, trailing England by 58 runs with Rahul and Rishabh Pant unbeaten at the crease.