‘I won’t be worried’: Michael Holding on how he would bowl to modern-day greats like Rohit Sharma, AB de Villiers
Speaking in an interview on Youtube channel Sportscreen, Holding was questioned on how would he bowl to such modern-day batsmen who have unique shots in their arsenal.
West Indies bowling legend Michael Holding believes that he could have posed a question mark with his pace for modern-day batsmen such as India opener Rohit Sharma and former South Africa captain AB de Villiers. Rohit and De Villiers are regarded as two of the best batsmen in limited-overs cricket as they both have plenty of attacking shots in their arsenal that leaves any and every bowling attack in the world scratching their heads. While Rohit has three ODI double hundreds - the maximum by any player, De Villiers holds the record of fastest ODI ton - in just 31 balls.
Speaking in an interview on Youtube channel Sportscreen, Holding was questioned on how would he bowl to such modern-day batsmen who have unique shots in their arsenal. “How would Michael Holding bowl to present day-batsman like Rohit Sharma who would pull a good-length delivery for a six, or like AB de Villiers, who would shuffle across the crease, pull it 360 degrees,” the reporter asked.
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In his reply, Holding said that he would like Rohit and de Villiers to attempt such shots against bowlers who bowl with the pace he used to bowl at.
“I think batsmen play their shots depending upon the pace of the bowlers. Those players and the shots that you are talking about I would like to see them play those shots against someone with real pace,” Holding said.
“Dale Steyn for instance or a Brett Lee or a Shoaib Akhtar. If they can play shots like that against that pace I’ll start to worry about what I am going to do. With the kind of pace I used to bowl, I wouldn’t be worried about those shots being played,” he added.
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The West Indies legend further said that he doesn’t think that the batsmen will be scared of his pace, but would certainly need to be more careful when attempting such shots. “Don’t think those guys will be scared, but they would be really careful about the shots that they attempt because you cannot make mistakes with those pace,” the cricketer-turned-commentator added.
