Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar criticised captain Rohit Sharma over his soft dismissal in the first innings of the ongoing second Test against New Zealand. Rohit registered a nine-ball duck, cleaned up by Tim Southee while trying to defend an outswinging delivery. Notably, Southee has now dismissed Rohit 14 times in international, the joint-most by any bowler alongside Kagiso Rabada. During a discussion on ESPNcricinfo, Manjrekar analysed Rohit's struggles and criticised the India captain's approach while defending.
"I liked the 50 that he got in the second innings of the last Test. He looked good, but clearly in the first innings, when there is a little bit in the pitch, that same loose defense, which we used to talk about at the start of his international career," Manjrekar said.
Manjrekar also suggested that Rohit has been a bit vulnerable when the ball is hard and the pitch has something on offer for the bowlers.
"He would not take a step forward and he would react just with the bat, that is starting to happen, and when he had that fantastic series in England, he was doing the same thing, the front pad never goes down the pitch as much as Virat does, but he was able to leave balls outside the off stump. I think they have worked out a way to bowl to Rohit Sharma. If you see he was made to play that ball and in an attempt to play a ball that he had to play, that movement, he is always reacting with the bat. That happened in the first Test as well, where there was a DRS situation, where he was reacting to the movement with the bat, and the pad was not there.
"That makes him a little vulnerable when there is a little bit in the pitch and the ball is hard. So yes, the defense, more than anything, is a concern because temperamentally this guy is brilliant. He just maybe has to tighten up his defense a little more and things should be okay. I saw that happen in that second innings of the last Test," he added.