"We could see slightly different Rohit Sharma in the first 10 overs" - Former batting coach on Indian captain's approach in IND vs ENG 2025 ODIs

Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar expects Rohit Sharma to adopt a slightly more conservative batting approach in the upcoming ODI series against England. He pointed out that the Indian captain would be hungry for runs after enduring a long lean run lately.

India will play England in a three-match ODI series, with the first game to be played in Nagpur on February 6. Rohit will likely captain and open the batting for the Men in Blue in preparation for the 2025 Champions Trophy.

During an interaction on the Star Sports show 'Follow the Blues', Bangar was asked about Rohit's likely approach in the ODIs against England.

"This is a format wherein he has faced a lot of success and he would be hungry for runs. He would want to put his lack of form or run of poor scores behind. It's going to be interesting to see how he approaches his batting in the first 10 overs because he wanted to play a little bit differently," he responded.

"Whether he plays with the same tempo or goes back to the tempo which gave him a lot of high scores because he would certainly need runs in the bank. That's where we could see slightly different Rohit Sharma in the first 10 overs," the former India all-rounder added.

Rohit Sharma has amassed 10866 runs at an average of 49.16 and a strike rate of 92.43 in 257 ODI innings. He was the second-highest run-scorer in the 2023 ODI World Cup, aggregating 597 runs at an average of 54.27 and a strike rate of 125.94 in 11 innings.

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"Yashasvi Jaiswal is somebody who has been very impressive" - Sanjay Bangar on choosing between Jaiswal and Shubman Gill as Rohit Sharma's opening partner

Yashasvi Jaiswal is yet to make his ODI debut. [P/C: Getty]

In the same interaction, Sanjay Bangar was asked whether Shubman Gill should continue to be Rohit Sharma's opening partner or Yashasvi Jaiswal should be given his debut.

"Yashasvi Jaiswal is somebody who has been very impressive. He can be your backup top-order batter. So in case of an injury or something, he can come and play at that position," he replied.

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that Gill should be persisted with at the top of the order.

"However, you would still want to see Shubman Gill in action because his year had been phenomenal in the lead-up to the World Cup. So Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma along with Virat Kohli would certainly be the starting top three positions," Bangar observed.

Shubman Gill has amassed 2328 runs at an average of 58.20 in 47 ODI innings. He scored 354 runs at an average of 44.25 in nine innings in the 2023 ODI World Cup.