Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has a simple message for Rohit Sharma after his team faced an embarrassing defeat to Australia by a huge margin of 10 wickets. While the entire Indian batting had major collapses throughout, Rohit’s comeback in the team didn’t fare well. He looked all at sea throughout and was lacklustre. Interestingly, he sacrificed his middle-order spot to KL Rahul and instead batted himself at number six. Shastri, however, wants the Indian skipper to bring back normalcy and move ahead as opener once again.
Shastri’s message to Rohit Sharma
India bundled out for just 175 in the second innings, setting up a formality for Australia to chase 19 runs. During the fourth innings, Shastri was commentating and was heard in the air, asking Rohit to bat as an opener. The former ODI World Cup winner said, “I would like to see Rohit Sharma back at the top of the order. Pat Cummins made a statement by leading from the front in this Test match, by body language, and by his aggression. Rohit Sharma has to be back at the toss. I think that’s where he’s the best.”
Rohit has had a disastrous form in Tests in recent times. In his last 12 innings, the Hitman has registered scores of 6, 5, 23, 8, 2, 52, 0, 8, 18, 11, 3, 6, averaging just 11.83. Barring one half-century, Rohit has a majority of single-digit scores in his last few innings.
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However, aside from his worrying form, Rohit’s decision to move in the middle order was due to the success that KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal saw in Perth. The duo changed the momentum of the game via their 200+ run stand. Having said that, Shastri feels that Rohit should once again bat up the order. As an opener, Rohit has made 2685 runs at an average of 44.01 in Tests.
India to bring in Ravindra Jadeja?
Apart from his wish to see Rohit open again, Ravi Shastri even put forward his liking to witness Ravindra Jadeja in the playing XI. India benched both Jadeja and R. Ashwin in Perth, going for the high-arm off-spin of Washington Sundar. In Adelaide, however, they went in with Ashwin, who was decent in this fixture, picking up a wicket and scoring 22 runs in the first innings. However, with series levelled at 1-1, Shastri wants India to turn to the experience of Jadeja come the third Test in Brisbane.
“I’d like to see someone like Jadeja get a lookin. Get some of your experienced players now, with the series at 1-1.,” said Shastri.
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