AUS vs IND: Where Rohit Sharma should bat in Brisbane Test?
Rohit Sharma did not look at home in the Adelaide Test by any stretch of the imagination. For the entirity of the match, he seemed vulnerable with the bat and fell short of ideas while facing the pink ball. At no stage of his knock did he seem to have got the better of the Australian attack. Rohit returned to batting in the middle order for the first time in six years and he had nothing short of a nightmare.
Rohit batted at No.6, sacrificing his opening slot after KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal tormented the Aussies in the Perth Test. Interestingly, amongst all batting positions, Rohit’s average of 49.80 at No.6 is the highest. With three centuries and six fifties, numbers favoured him for slotting in at No.6, although it was way back in December 2018 that he last batted in the middle order in Tests.
Rohit got out LBW to Scott Boland in the first innings. In the second, it was his opposite number, Pat Cummins, who rattled his woodwork. Rohit was also given LBW on-field to Mitchell Starc when he was on naught, but he survived after replays showed that the bowler bowled a no-ball. Although Rohit creamed Starc for a boundary, Cummins’ delivery turned out to be too hot to handle for him.
Rohit also lost his fourth Test in a row as the Indian Test captain, adding to his misery. It has gotten worse for him both as captain and batter. After the 10-wicket hammering in Adelaide, the question is should Rohit return to opening the batting in the third Test at the Gabba in Brisbane?
Should India dismantle the Jaiswal-Rahul opening duo to let their skipper bat at a position where he has racked up numerous records across formats?
After his gutsy knock in Perth, Rahul scored 37 runs in the first innings of the Adelaide Test before falling cheaply in the second. Needless to say that if India are intending to send Rohit back to opening, it is Rahul who will have to make way for him. Shubman Gill, who got scores of 31 and 28, should retain his spot at No.3 and it’s unlikely that Rohit will bat there.
No doubts for Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri, who has worked with Rohit during his heydays, was clear cut in saying that Rohit should open the batting. Shastri, who worked as Team India’s head coach from 2017 to 2021, said that the Indian captain should be backed to put pressure on the opposition right at the top.
“That’s where he’s been at his best over the last eight or nine years. It’s not that he’s going to set the world on fire – he could – but that’s the place that’s best for him…If he has to do damage, if he has to throw the first punch, that’s the best place from where he can do it,” Shastri was quoted as saying by The Age.
It is while opening the batting that Rohit’s career got a new lease of life across all three formats back in 2013 during the Champions Trophy on English soil. From being a batter who wasn’t making full use of his potential in the middle-order, Rohit turned his career around as one of the best openers in world cricket.
Rohit has always had better clarity of mind while opening the batting. He likes leading from the front, taking the opponents head on. Rohit isn’t in the best of form, but even a short cameo from him at the top could inspire India’s comeback in Brisbane, a venue which gave memories to rejoice back in 2021.
