Rohit Sharma reveals how Shikhar Dhawan helped him play at his own pace

Rohit Sharma recalled his successful opening partnership with Shikhar Dhawan, saying Dhawan’s aggressive natural game allowed him to take his time at the crease. Rohit also revealed that their casual conversations while batting helped them release pressure during matches

Mumbai: Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan took a trip down memory lane and revisited their days as opening partners on ‘Family Full House’.

Revealing what, according to him, made them such a successful pair at the top of the order, Rohit said Dhawan’s natural game meant he could maintain a strike rate of over 100 without taking unnecessary risks, allowing Rohit to play at his own pace.

“Aur ek khaasiyat maine kaafi baar bola hai ki jab main Shikhar ke saath batting karta tha na, toh Shikhar ka natural game hi aisa tha ki woh bina koi risk liye 100 ke upar unka strike rate hota tha hamesha. Aur isi wajah se mujhe mauka milta tha ki main aaraam se apna time loon aur aaraam se khelun (And one thing I’ve mentioned quite a few times is that whenever I batted with Shikhar, his natural game was such that he always had a strike rate over 100 without taking any risks. And because of that, I got the chance to take my time and play at my own pace),” he explained.

Sharing what they used to talk about while walking out to bat together, Rohit said the two rarely discussed the bowling or match situation.

“Aksar jab hum log batting par utarte the, hum dono aapas mein kaun ball daal raha hai, kaun kya kar raha hai uske baare mein baat nahi karte the. Hamare beech mein bahut faltu ki baatein hoti rehti thi, aur woh isliye kyunki ek tareeka hai woh pressure apne aap se nikalne ka (Often when we went out to bat, we didn’t talk about who was bowling or what someone was doing. There used to be a lot of random chatter between us, and that was because it’s a way to release that pressure),” he said.

‘Family Full House’, featuring Rohit Sharma, airs every Saturday and Sunday at 9:30 pm on Sony Entertainment Television and can be streamed on Sony LIV.