Former India National Cricket Team head coach Ravi Shastri wants the skipper Rohit Sharma to take back his opening spot from KL Rahul ahead of the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
Ravi Shastri believes that the poor form of Rohit Sharma has directly impacted his captaincy, and him moving back to the top order would allow him to be more aggressive with the bat.
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Rohit Sharma’s horror show in Test cricket continued in Adelaide Test
The India National Cricket Team skipper returned to the playing XI in Adelaide after missing the Perth Test due to the birth of his second child.
Rohit didn’t open the innings and allowed KL Rahul to continue at the top-order along with Yashasvi Jaiswal after the duo delivered a great performance in the second innings of the Test series opener of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
Rohit’s move to the middle order didn’t prove to be fruitful, as he failed badly in both innings. He looked in all sorts of trouble while facing the Aussie pacers and registered scores of 3 and 6 across two innings.
The failure of Rohit Sharma with the bat meant that Team India got bundled out for low scores in both innings and they lost the match by 10 wickets.
Just thought he was a little too subdued, just seeing his body language – Ravi Shastri
Speaking to the broadcasters after the Adelaide Test, Ravi Shastri stated that Rohit had subdued body language in the match and he needs to be more involved as a captain.
Shastri added that there is a need for Rohit to get back to the top and send KL Rahul back to the middle-order again. He said:
“That’s the reason I want him at the top. That’s where he can be aggressive and expressive. Just thought he was a little too subdued, just seeing his body language. The fact that he didn’t make runs, I don’t think there was enough on the field there. I just wanted to see him more involved, and a little more animated.
“You still have to believe that you can bounce back in this series. You have seen with these two teams, that the counter-punch is almost immediate. It’s happened over the last 10 years. You lose one, you win the next, but you have to have the belief,” Shastri said.
“It would mean Rahul would go back to the middle order. But that’s what he was going to do if Rohit Sharma had started from the first Test itself,” he added.
I like the choice of words by Pat Cummins in Perth – Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri further advised Rohit Sharma to learn from the Australia skipper Pat Cummins about how to bounce back from defeat and ensure Team India are at their very best in the Brisbane Test match. He asserted:
“I like the choice of words by Pat Cummins in Perth. He said we weren’t good enough, but we weren’t as bad as the scoreboard showed. The reason I say good choice of words is because it wasn’t about what people said or what was written about, it was about what the scoreboard showed. I think India can take a leaf out of that.”