Rohit Sharma is afraid to face Pat Cummins and co.? Australian legend Glenn McGrath thinks the India cricket team captain doesn’t want to open the batting, and that’s exactly why he decided to bowl first after he won the toss in the India vs Australia 3rd Test in Brisbane.
Rohit Sharma afraid to face Starc, Cummins & Hazlewood?
Coming from a 10-wicket defeat and having failed personally, registering scores of 3 and 6, McGrath doesn’t find it surprising that Rohit shied away from facing the new ball. After having a miserable time in Adelaide, it was reported that Rohit would move back up the order and push KL Rahul to number six.
“I’m not surprised that Rohit Sharma won the toss and bowled. He doesn’t want to get out there and bat. The thing is if you bowl first and it goes pear-shaped, that looks really bad in the media, whereas if you bat first and it goes poorly, it is a ‘gutsy decision to bat first,'” McGrath said on ABC Radio.
Rohit Sharma Test record as batter & captain in 2024
| Matches | Won | Lost | Runs | Average | 100s | 50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 7 | 5 | 597 | 27.13 | 2 | 2 |
What perhaps McGrath didn’t take into account was that Rohit won’t open at The Gabba. Team India did make two changes, Ravindra Jadeja for Ravichandran Ashwin and Akash Deep replacing Harshit Rana, but the batting order remains the same. Rahul will continue to open, and Rohit will continue to play after number six.
India’s Playing XI for 3rd Australia Test
Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep
