T20 World Cup 2022: "It was too late by the time he tried to change his role" - Irfan Pathan on Rohit Sharma

Irfan Pathan believes Rohit Sharma was too late while changing roles in the T20 World Cup 2022.

Rohit scored a 28-ball 27 in India's semi-final clash against England at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday, November 10. The Men in Blue posted a total of 168/6 after being asked to bat first and went to lose the match by 10 wickets to get knocked out of the tournament.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Pathan was asked about the Indian skipper having not looked convincing in the middle since adopting the aggressive T20 batting approach. He responded:

"He did look like that in Indian conditions for sure. There his strike rate went above 150 as well. But here when the conditions changed, it was too late by the time he tried to change his role and there he kept on losing his wicket."

The former Indian all-rounder highlighted Rohit's travails against the short ball during the tournament. He explained:

"If you see Rohit Sharma getting dismissed while playing the pull shot three times in the same World Cup, it means there was some problem for sure, because it is his favorite shot. We saw him being late one or two times as well and once the boundary was too big, so the ball went to the hand."

Pathan believes the lack of runs from the Indian skipper's willow impacted the team negatively. He elaborated:

"If you don't score runs as a captain, we saw Babar Azam was unable to control the team when he was not scoring runs, and here when Rohit Sharma didn't score runs, it made a direct impact on the Indian team."

Rohit managed just 116 runs in his six innings in the tournament. These runs came at an underwhelming average of 19.33 and an equally poor strike rate of 106.42.

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"If the side boundaries are short, it doesn't mean you can target them only" - Sanjay Bangar on Rohit Sharma's dismissal

Rohit Sharma was dismissed while trying to play a big shot.

Sanjay Bangar was further asked about Rohit's dismissal in Thursday's game. He replied:

"If the side boundaries are short, it doesn't mean you can target them only. If you see that delivery, if Rohit Sharma had played it straight to long-on, it would have probably been a very good contact and the ball might have gone for a six or a four. But there is a lure of the short side boundaries."

Rohit was brilliantly caught by Sam Curran off Chris Jordan's bowling. The Indian opener tried to hit the right-arm seamer across the line over wide long-on but only managed to sky it after striking the ball high on his bat.