Rohit Sharma Not Part Of The Hitting Parade At The ICC Academy Grounds

The men in blue team looked like they were having fun at the ICC Cricket Academy ground …not far away from the Dubai International Stadium (DIS) where India beat Asian neighbours Bangladesh and Pakistan to qualify for the ICC Champions Trophy semi-finals. Rohit Sharma’s team knocked Pakistan out from the tournament and chose to rest for two days before a “hitting out parade” at the academy grounds on Mahashivratri day. After some fun play warm up with tennis ball, each and every batter starting with Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli and followed by the likes of Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and KL Rahul and the others sent the ball to challenge stratospheric layers making the people standing near the sightscreen run for cover! Close to a hundred towering shots would have been hit in the course of the two–hour plus power-batting session. A wagon wheel of the robust hitting would be interesting to see, but the intent shown by the batters confirmed that smashing small and big boundary shots have become the order in white ball cricket. Skipper Sharma was present at the venue, but his deputy Shubhman Gill was not. Troubled by a hamstring niggle — Sharma had said he was okay at the conclusion of the match against Pakistan — the India skipper did not pad up for the hitting parade. The big question is will Sharma risk playing the sort of a ‘dead rubber’ match against New Zealand this Sunday in order to rest his hamstring for six full days?