Rohit Sharma could attack in powerplay because Virat Kohli was there to fix his mistakes: Aaron Finch

Virat Kohli deserves much credit for the transformation in Rohit Sharma's batting inside the powerplay. Confused? Before dismissing this as just another fan logic trying to give birth to a narrative, hear out Australia's T20 World Cup-winning captain Aaron Finch. The former Australia opener reserved high praise for India captain Rohit Sharma for taking it upon himself to change the way India's top-order bats in white-ball cricket but added that it was only possible because he had someone like Virat Kohli waiting in the changing room. Virat Kohli talks to India captain Rohit Sharma(PTI)

After India were knocked out of the 2022 semi-finals, Rohti decided to change the timid approach of India's top-order. He took matters into his own hands and put more emphasis on scoring rate than a price tag over his wicket, which, by the way, is immensely valuable in limited-overs cricket. Finch said the way Rohit bats currently in white-ball cricket involves many risks and he can only do that knowing Kohli will take care of things at No.3 if he gets out early.

"When you look, when Rohit's made that conscious decision, he's had Virat coming in behind him at number three. So there's an ability for him to say, you know what, I've got the guy behind that will fix any mistakes that I make. But you can't have everybody in the team just looking to swing for the fences from ball one. So that's a really, that's a good question. And I understand that Rohit's done that, and he's been very successful in doing it," Finch told PTI.

Finch believes if Kohli bats at a strike-rate of 150, his job is done. He doesn't need to score at 200 because that involves a lot of risks. His job is different. After some underwhelming seasons, Kohli managed a strike-rate of near 140 in 2023 and his best in all IPL seasons came in 2024 where he scored 741 runs at 154.70.

"Maybe if his strike rate goes from 140 to 150, he can absolutely do that. No issues whatsoever. But how many times has he been in a situation where he's had to almost dig RCB out of the hole because everybody else has fallen around him? So, like I said before, I would bank the runs every day of the week from a top-three player. Because that gives the rest of the order so much freedom. That gives you the option to be more aggressive than the other batters," he explained.

So does Virat Kohli need to change his game for RCB to take full advantage, considering that their bowling lineup might not be as good as others? "Well, the question you have to ask yourself is, do you want 700 or 800 runs or are you happy with 400? Because if you want Virat to strike higher, he can absolutely do that. But with that comes a higher risk and the consistency will go down," Finch said.

‘No need for Kohli to change anything’: Finch

"So I don't think that there's a huge need to change. Maybe it's changing the tempo up slightly. But overall, I would bank on his runs every single day of the week. And then you start to build your team around somebody like that."

Finch admitted game has changed upside down in terms of how teams are approaching Powerplay overs but each batter's strength is different.

"It's not just about people who walk out of the change rooms and strike at 200 from ball one. I think that that's unrealistic to ask seven batters to do that all in the one team. Because when it doesn't go well, you lose the game. I know that the game has gone to a new level in the last two seasons. But you still need to have the foundations and you still need to have that person there that's able to strike and bat deep into the innings."

While Rohit's IPL strike-rate is quite similar to Kohli, in the last phase of his T20I career, he took more risks than ever and also made significant gains at the top of the order.

But Finch, an accomplished opener back in the day, put things in perspective about quality of players in that Mumbai Indians line-up, who can pick up pieces and play with same momentum if things go adrift. "... when you look at the way that Rohit's done it, have a look at the players that he's had around him. He's still had the foundations of a player that the team can bat around him. So it's okay to walk out and swing from the hip and look to try and dominate and hit a lot of sixes from early in your innings. But you have to understand the dynamics of the team around that."The Mumbai Indians line-up featured Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma in the top and middle order."

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