‘Nathan Lyon isn't that good a bowler…': Rohit Sharma reveals message that got Cheteshwar Pujara to hit AUS spinner for six in 2023 BGT
Rohit Sharma has had his few struggles against Nathan Lyon during his Test career. The wily Australia off-spinner has dismissed the India batter nine times in 19 innings, the most any bowler has removed Rohit in whites.
However, the former India captain doesn't exactly approve of Lyon's world-class status when it comes to situations where his team is in need of rapid runs. Opening up on a viral moment from the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy during his captaincy tenure that had him visibly miffed at his teammate Cheteshwar Pujara's tepid scoring rate, Rohit revealed the message that got the then-India No. 3 to (uncharacteristically) flatten Lyon with a six over wide mid-on.
Staring at the possibility of a rare home defeat were the Indians in the third Test of the four-match series against Australia in Indore two years ago. India were seven down for 140 in the second innings when Pujara and all-rounder Axar Patel's cautious play against Lyon miffed Rohit, who evidently wanted a change of gears. As the cameras panned on the Mumbaikar, Rohit would be seen passing messages to substitute Ishan Kishan, who stepped onto the field to relay the messages.
The stoic Pujara would make Rohit break into a smile soon after as he charged down the strip to smash Lyon over mid-on for six. Though India would eventually settle for a paltry 75-run target set for the Aussies in the defeat, the moment would form the chatter on social media.
'We wanted to get Nathan Lyon off the track a little bit. We wanted to get some runs quickly,' revealed Rohit during the book launch of 'The Diary of a Cricketer's Wife', written by Pujara's wife, Puja, in Mumbai.
'We probably were looking at declaring or something. We were like… 'no, something needs to change now. Maybe, a message would do good'. The entire time, he was bowling with mid-on up. I was like, 'he's not that good of a bowler to keep mid-on up'. I know it was a challenge, the pitch was turning square, but we needed to get runs quickly. So I had to send Ishan,' Rohit said.
Rohit cheekily said that it wasn't always that batters (himself included) received the messages from the dressing room with both hands.
'It's one thing that we send messages. The most important thing is.. sometimes what batters do is whenever someone comes out with a message, we know exactly why he's there. So I would stop him there only!' remarked Rohit.
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