5 reasons why Rohit Sharma has struggled in Sri Lanka

India's vice-captain Rohit Sharma is in terrific form since 2016 as he averages 62.28 in ODIs. The right-hand batsman is especially severe against Sri Lanka. Against the island nation, he has amassed more than a thousand runs in 37 innings and his highest score of 264* came against Sri Lanka.

Interestingly, the right-hand batsman's average dips to 14.25 in ODIs played in Sri Lanka. Rohit has a history of failures while batting in Sri Lanka and in 22 innings has managed to score to only one half-century.

The ongoing ODI series against Sri Lanka is an ideal chance for the opener to repair the damage and to improve his stats.It will be exciting to see how Rohit, who is coming back from an injury fares against a relatively poor Sri Lankan attack.

However, it is also crucial to know why his stats are abysmal in Sri Lanka. Here we decode Rohit's failures in Sri Lanka and see how he can overcome his flaws.

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#5. The seaming ball comes into him

A major chink in Rohit's armor has been the ball that comes in after pitching. The Indian batsman has struggled across the world, whenever the bowlers have extracted some movement from the surface or the air.

Rohit is a technically sound batsman with an impeccable defence but when it comes to deliveries that are aimed at the stumps with some pace, he behaves like a rabbit caught in headlines. The lack of footwork and ability to play across the line have resulted in his downfall.

Over the years, the Sri Lankan pacers have exploited this flaw effectively. Especially the right-arm bowlers have consistently attacked the stumps, increasing the troubles for the Indian batsman. Out of his 20 dismissals in Sri Lanka, 14 have come against pacers.

And out of these 14 dismissals, three have been bowled and six have been LBWs. These stats indicate the technical flaw in Rohit's batting.

#4. Inability to get going in the beginning

Slow and scratchy beginnings have caused Sharma's downfall

Rohit is a slow-starter. He is not the kind of batsmen who start playing their strokes from the word go. The Indian batsman prefers the traditional method of batting which is to first settle down and then play strokes.

Hence, whenever the opening batsman makes a big score, he ends up piling a massive knock. However, this approach makes him highly vulnerable at the start of his innings.

The right-hand batsman takes him time to understand the nature of wicket and the bowler's plan. In the beginning, he is scratchy and has issues when the ball does some mischief.

This flaw in his batting is mercilessly exposed in Sri Lanka where bowlers have targeted his weak links in the beginning and have reaped heavy rewards.

In Sri Lanka, he has got out seven times between the scores of 01 to 09 and between scores of 10 to 19, he has been dismissed on four occasions. Plus he has five ducks to his name.

Thus, out of his twenty dismissals, 16 have come when his score was below 20.

#3. The nature and conditions of Sri Lankan pitches

Sri Lanka's slow pitches help the ball spin

The Indian vice-captain is a free-flowing batsman who enjoys when the ball comes on to the bat. Unlike several Indian batsmen, Rohit has no troubles when the surface offers pace to the ball and in fact, he prefers pacy surfaces over dry and slow wickets.

That is why he averages 51.95 in Australia and only 12.28 in South Africa. The pitches in Australia assist pace while South African surfaces are mostly dry and have plenty to offer for the bowlers.

The Sri Lankan surfaces are spin-friendly but they also have something in store for the pacers. The pitches are slow and the ball doesn't come on to the bat easily. Also, the cloudy and overcast conditions help seam movement.

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This combination of slow surfaces and conditions that assist movement of the ball, makes Sri Lanka a difficult place to bat for Rohit. The Indian batsman loves playing his strokes but the slow surface affects his timing while the overcast conditions expose the weak links in his batting.

#2. Lack of batting form

Sharma has been erratic against Sri Lanka since his debut

Since his debut in 2007, Rohit's batting form was erratic till 2012. Out of the blue, he would play an incredible knock but most times he returned with a string of low scores. His failure to convert starts into big knocks was a major reason behind his inconsistency.

The Indian batsman's previous tours of Sri Lanka happened when he was in a poor form. The pressure of scoring runs and the unsupporting conditions added to his woes and he ended up scoring only a few runs.

In his first tour to Sri Lanka in 2008, he scored 72 runs in five innings, while in 2010, he managed 151 runs from eight innings. Before both these tours, Rohit was going through a bad-patch and that added pressure affected his batting.

The story was once again repeated in 2012 as Rohit had figures of 5,0,0,4,4 in five innings.

#1. Too many batting positions

Sharma has been shuffled around the order

Rohit started as a middle-order batsman but his lack of runs forced the team management to make him bat somewhere between number four to seven. The constant shuffling of batting positions only added to his troubles and he became consistent only when he was asked to bat in the top order.

The right-hand batsman's career was rejuvenated once he started batting as the opener and has become a prolific run-getter since then. And most of his batting heroics have been put on while opening the innings.

However, while batting in Sri Lanka, Rohit has opened the inning only once and has played mostly at number four (seven innings), number five (six innings), number six (two innings), and number seven (two innings).

It is an established fact that the right-hand batsman struggles in the middle order and hence this is one of the reasons why he has failed consistently in Sri Lanka.