Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s reputation precedes them. Whether they are out of touch or not, their opposition fears them, knowing well that they can take the game away anytime. Before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25, Australian captain Pat Cummins hasn’t failed to mention that despite their diminishing returns, one can’t question the Indian greats.
Old lions, still dangerous
Although Kohli has more experience in Australia, which includes a series with 692 runs to his name, Rohit has also aged like fine wine in Test cricket despite failing to succeed Down Under. The last couple of months haven’t been great for the modern Indian greats, and with age catching up, not many expect them to succeed in BGT 2024-25.
If you ask Pat Cummins, though, he’s still not ruling India’s most experienced players out. Asked about how Australia might benefit from them struggling, Cummins told Hindustan Times, “hard to know, really. Every player goes through a kind of good form, bad form. If you’re going to have a long Test career, you’re going to have those little patches. Our job is obviously to try and keep the Indian batters as quiet as we can so we’ll wait and see. Those two are obviously some of India’s more experienced players, so we’ll see what happens.“
Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma in last 5 Tests
| Runs | Avg | 50s | 100s | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rohit Sharma | 133 | 13.30 | 1 | 0 |
| Virat Kohli | 192 | 21.33 | 1 | 0 |
Rohit Sharma unavailable?
One of the issues is also that the Indian captain might not be available for the Perth Test due to personal reasons. This is the first time Rohit’s going to the shores of Australia as captain, and missing the first and even possibly the second Test can’t be great. Already struggling for form, if he joins Team India when they are already down 0-1 or 0-2, one has to question how much impact it’ll have on his batting.
It’ll also force head coach Gautam Gambhir to find a partner for Yashasvi Jaiswal. Right now, Abhimanyu Easwaran seems like the best choice, but he’s been unable to perform against Australia A. Ruturaj Gaikwad; the other option didn’t open earlier today in the 2nd unofficial Test against the A side, while KL Rahul, who replaced Gaikwad at the top, managed to score just 4.
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