India v Australia 2023

‘Oh no, he’s moved’ – Rohit Sharma holds Shreyas Iyer from his hips, changes silly point position in amusing field adjustment

by Wisden Staff March 10, 2023 - 5:16am 2 minute read

Rohit Sharma – amusing as always – opted for a “hands-on” approach to guide Shreyas Iyer to the right silly point position in an amusing field adjustment on day one of the India-Australia Ahmedabad Test.

The silly point position is often reserved for younger members of the team, although not always. Shreyas Iyer, who returned to the side after an injury layoff, has been sharing the dreaded duties with Shubman Gill in this series.

In the 68th over of Australia’s innings, with Peter Handscomb facing Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma realised he wasn’t too happy with where Iyer was standing. He decided to make a slight adjustment.

Instead of verbal instructions, though, Rohit walked up to Iyer and put him in proper position with his hips, guiding him slightly behind.

“You reckon Rohit Sharma got him in the right spot there? (Laughs) he actually walked up and pushed his hips around,” Matthew Hayden said on commentary.

Iyer didn’t relent so easily though: in a moment, he drifted back to his original position. “Oh no, he’s moved!” remarked Hayden.

“As soon as the captain went back, he took a step back!” co-commentator Harsha Bhogle exclaimed. “You think Rohit’s going to walk back and push him back in front again?”

Sunil Gavaskar wasn’t too impressed with the new position though: “Tell you what, that’s right in front of the batter. I know he’s wearing leg guards there, but you could be seriously injured.”

Rohit continued to move Shreyas through the over but resorted to verbal instructions instead.