Pundits and fans may love to call Rohit Sharma a lazy yet elegant batter, but India’s veteran opening batsman is not too fond of that description.
Speaking to his India teammate Dinesh Karthik in an interview for Sky Sports, Rohit said he feels the term suggests that he is “lazy” and no batsman can survive at the top level if he is not alert enough at the crease.
“When you’re playing a sport, you cannot be lazy – as simple as that. You know maybe it may sound or it may look on television, but if you’re lazy, you cannot achieve what you want to achieve on the field.”
“You have to be at it, like I said just now, you have to be ahead of the game, and you cannot be ahead of your opposition if you’re lazy.”
Rohit said.
The term “lazy elegance” is most commonly used when Rohit plays his signature pull shot. The prodigiously talented right-hand batsman has always come across as an effortless puller of the cricket ball even against the quickest of fast bowlers.
Rohit, however, stressed again that he wouldn’t have been able to pull with as much ease as he does if he was lethargic in his approach.
“You can’t hit that pull shot when there are guys bowling 145 plus and all that. You can’t be lazy, you’ll get hit on your head. So I don’t think people understand that.”
“But yeah I mean it’s fine, they’ve been talking about this since I started playing for India – ‘oh he’s got lazy elegance’ and I don’t understand this term lazy elegance, there’s nothing called lazy elegance.”
During the interview, Rohit recalled one of the most difficult periods in his India career and said being left out of the 2011 World Cup at home was a bitter pill to swallow. Rohit said he was “desperate” to get a place in the World Cup squad, but he recognises now that the setback made him a stronger individual.
