Rohit has freedom to shift gears

Mumbai: Rohit Sharma’s aggressive approach with the bat might have drawn criticism for more misses than hits but Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene said the team has backed the former captain to bat at a similar tempo despite its perils.

Rohit stroked his way to a match-winning 45-ball 76 here on Sunday against Chennai Super Kings to banish an ordinary run of scores so far in this IPL season.

“Once he comes off like that, you know that he’s going to change the game and the momentum and that’s going to filter down to the rest of the boys as well, so pretty happy with the approach,” Jayawardene said. “He never changed his approach. The intent was there from Day 1, even though he was failing. We just backed him to do that,” he added.