According to England pacer Mark Wood, Rohit Sharma is the most challenging Indian player he has ever bowled to in his career. Wood said that when Rohit Sharma is in full swing, his bat appears to be “getting just wider.”
Prior to the Ashes series this winter, Wood hopes to make a comeback with Durham in the County Championship in September after missing the fiercely contested five-match Test series against India at home owing to a knee injury.
Wood shared his thoughts on the hardest batsmen he has encountered when playing against India while speaking on The Overlap Cricket podcast.
“Yeah, in different stages of my career, I would say Rohit Sharma. Difficult because against the short ball, you feel like you, for myself, I’ve got a chance of getting him out, but also if he’s on that day, he smokes it.
“So, he was difficult. I always felt like his bat was big, just kept getting wider,” Wood said.
Wood, who can often bowl over 145 kmph and is among the fastest bowlers of the past few years, also thinks highly of Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant.
“Kohli, obviously. Unbelievable competitor, someone that I felt you have this weakness of fourth, fifth stump, drag him in. We seem to never miss him when I bowl him there. So, that was difficult,” he said.
Although Rohit and Kohli are no longer playing Test or Twenty20 cricket, they are still active in the One-Day International format.
Wood cited Pant’s boldness as his greatest attribute when discussing the wicketkeeper-batter.
“I think you’ve got to hold your nerve. That’s basically what I would say. He can be so unpredictable that it plays into his hands. If you’re the same all the time, he’s got such a good eye, he hits it where he wants. You need to mix it up with a slower ball, a high bouncer, or a fast yorker,” Wood said of Pant.
Before the team departs for Australia for the Ashes, which begins in Perth on November 21, the bowler stated that he wants to play for Durham in red-ball matches to put himself to the test.
“I’m hoping to play for Durham as there are a couple of games in September – so I’ll try and play one or two of those,” Wood told Betfair’s Stick to Cricket podcast.
“The injury is alright. It was 50/50 whether I was going to make the India Test but I was bowling at Lord’s and then, the next day, my knee swelled up again so I had it drained and since then it’s just been about taking things easy looking ahead to the winter.”
Wood is a key component of England’s strategy for the major tour, even if they have not yet announced their Ashes squad.
“I’ve been well looked after and very cautious, that’s the way that it’s been. I value it as they’ve got this end game where they want me to get to Australia,” he said.
