‘Yeh Rohit Sharma nahi, uska stunt double hai’: Shoaib Akhtar rips into Indian captain’s stance change facing Shaheen Afridi | Cricket News

Even though the India-Pakan group stage at this Asia Cup didn’t see its conclusion, with rain calling off the fixture, it still provided an insight into the preparedness of India’s batting lineup with the men in blue being able to bat through their innings.
Among the notes, one will find the top order collapse against a quality Pakan pace attack a repetitive occurrence going into a third World Cup in third year. 31/3 in Dubai at the 2021 World Cup, 31/4 in Melbourne last year, and 66/4 in Pallekele last week seemed all too familiar. Within that collapse, so did the dismissal of Indian captain Rohit Sharma.
Rohit, who’d managed to grab a couple of boundaries off Shaheen Shah Afridi, was cleaned up the Pakan left arm quick in the fifth over -who had also got the better of the opener in their T20 World Cup face off a couple of years ago. Former Pakan pacer Shoaib Akhtar believes the two dismissals aren’t pure coincidental and that Afridi may have got into the head of the Indian skipper.

“Yeh Rohit Sharma woh Rohit Sharma hai hi nahi. Yeh uska stunt double hai (This is not the same Rohit Sharma. This is his a stunt double),” Akhtar said during a virtual Star Sports presser.
“Shaheen has made his way into his mind. I have never seen Rohit change his stance, but what was happening there? He changed it, was beaten and bowled. Shaheen is subconsciously in his mind. This is what pressure of IND vs PAK match does to players,” he added.
What was the stance change?
Rohit Sharma, who usually keeps his front foot (left) in line with the leg stump, had positioned it wider away from the leg stump to face the left arm pacer coming over the wicket. It’s a technical change right handed batters do to avoid being blinded in one eye get a better view of the incoming delivery from a left armer.

Shaheen to Rohit
Left – previous ballRight- Wicket ball pic.twitter.com/0muG7mV0c0
— Nibraz Ramzan (@nibraz88cricket) September 3, 2023
Afridi has been known to bring the ball in at quick pace, something he’d done to trap Rohit leg before wicket in the first over during that face off in Dubai.
But in his attempt to avoid being plumb, the wider gap between the Indian skipper’s feet didn’t help him as far as his front foot stride was concerned. Afridi would lure him in with two previous deliveries that went away before bringing one sharply back in to crash through his gates.
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The issue against left arm quicks hasn’t exclusively been restricted to Shaheen Afridi or Rohit Sharma. Indian top order has been left vulnerable against the particular category of bowlers for some time now.

Against Pakan, the 2017 Champions Trophy final comes to mind when Mohammad Amir removed Rohit, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli.
From India’s last game at the ODI World Cup, Trent Boult’s opening spell under the clouds was no different. With another World Cup less than a month away, it will be an interesting to witness how India counter the same threat with most opposition teams having a left arm quick in their camps.