'It was a little lazy' - Matthew Hayden, Sanjay Manjrekar critique Rohit Sharma's shot selection after first innings failure

Former Australian batter Matthew Hayden has criticised Indian skipper Rohit Sharma for his languid approach in the first innings of the Indore Test. Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar also critiqued the Indian opener after India's timid batting performance on the first day of the third Test.

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma got a couple of lucky breaks in the opening over of the match, but he wasn't able to make it count as he lost his wicket after waltzing down the pitch against Matthew Kuhnemann. Hayden reckoned it was lazy batting from the Indian skipper, who was supposed to lead from the front in testing batting conditions.

“I think there are some forgettable shots, no doubt about it. Rohit Sharma – and I’ve always said this about Test match cricket – the captain leads from the front. So that dismissal is something he will look back and think – Maybe It was a little lazy, maybe It was a little apprehensive.

“Winning the toss, you want to make a big impression, want to enforce that dominance onto Australia, who are depleted. They don’t have their captain, they don’t have David Warner. Lots to lose for them, including not being in that Test Championship [final]. I think [there was] maybe a little bit of complacency mixed with a little bit of arrogancy as well,” Hayden told Star Sports.

It was a Rohit Sharma who came out with the hangover of the earlier two Test matches: Manjrekar

Cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar also felt that Rohit threw his wicket away and was probably a bit arrogant with the bat, given his phenomenal record in the series so far. The former Indian batter opined that the Indian opener seemed hungover from his side's dominance in the series up to that point.

“Spot on. A lot of that was seen in the way Rohit Sharma played. He was out twice – the reviews weren’t taken – and then he was out the third time. So it was a Rohit Sharma who came out with the hangover of the earlier two Test matches’ dominance. He didn’t start from ball one. There was a bit of arrogance there,” Manjrekar said.

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