'500-600 runs don't matter if you don't win trophy': Rohit Sharma hits back at critics

Rohit Sharma opens up on scoring 500-600 runs in a tournament. (Photo: ICC)

A high-risk, high-reward tactic in the powerplay overs, Rohit Sharma's take-no-prisoners approach to batting at the beginning of the innings in the T20 format has proven to be effective. Even if it has caused Rohit to leave games early, when it works, it can also produce huge benefits. While acknowledging in an interview that the approach isn't always successful, Rohit also stated that he has no plans to change his batting technique anytime soon.

“Main game nahi change karoonga! (I won’t change my game!) The team has given me a role, I will continue playing that. Milestones wala game nahi hai mera (My game is not about chasing milestones). My focus is on contributing runs. Who doesn’t like making runs? I certainly do! I’ve been repeating this for years now. Pareshaan ho chuka hoon (I’m tired) repeating this same answer. Of course I get disappointed when the runs don’t come when you cannot contribute runs. You hurt when that happens."

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“But I don’t want to abandon my game. I know it’s very risky, you will get out. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care that I am getting out or that I am not thinking about how I can contribute more runs to the team cause,” Rohit said in an interview with journalist Vimal Kumar.

For the Mumbai Indians this season, Rohit has amassed 240 runs at an average of 30 runs per nine innings. In a nine-wicket triumph over the Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium, he destroyed their bowling attack for an undefeated 76 off just 45 balls, which was his most damaging innings to date.

When the Mumbai Indians won the IPL five times, Rohit, who turned 38 on Wednesday, notes that no player on the squad had won the Orange Cap that year. He continued by explaining that helping the Mumbai Indians win games has always been his main objective rather than setting a season-long run total. In spite of Rohit's 648-run tournament high, the Indian cricket team fell in the semifinals of the 2019 World Cup, he pointed out.

He went on to say that although he enjoyed taking a lot of chances with the bat during the first six overs, he would stop doing so once the powerplay overs were over.

“My target has never been to score a certain number of runs in a season," Rohit said. “I want to win matches and for that, I have always given my best. It doesn’t matter if you score 600-700 runs and aren’t winning a trophy. It (The runs) won’t matter."

“Aise hi pagalon ki tarah nahi kheloonga (Won’t play like a madman the entire game). I like to take chances initially because that’s my game for the past few years. Yes, I have not had that much success in it! But I am not too worried about it. If I start doubting myself, it gets trickier. The team has confidence in me. I have confidence in myself,” Rohit added.