Former India head coach Ravi Shastri did support captain Rohit Sharma‘s decision to bat in the middle-order in the second Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, but asked the 37-year-old to return to the opening spot in Gabba next week after outlining a major concern.
Having missed the series opener in Perth owing to the birth of his second child, Rohit was replaced by KL Rahul in the opening spot, and the latter impressed with a valiant 77 en route to a record 201-run stand alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal. With India not wanting to disturb the opening combination, especially with Rahul having found his groove after being from the playing XI in the New Zealand Test series in late October, Rohit decided to take the No. 6 spot in the line-up in the Adelaide Test. However, while Rahul continued his steady run, Rohit fumbled, scoring just 3 and 6 in the two innings in the second Test.
Speaking to the broadcasters after India suffered a 10-wicket loss in the pink ball Test, Shastri called out Rohit’s “subdued body language” in the match, explaining that it was due to his poor returns with the bat. Hence, the India legend urged Rohit to return to his usual spot at the top of the order, implying Rahul to take the No. 6 role.
“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.
‘India can take a leaf out of Pat Cummins’ book’
Besides his batting, Rohit’s captaincy also came under scrutiny over underutilisation of R Ashwin on Day 1 and not bringing in Jasprit Bumrah into the attack at key moments. Shastri hence wants Rohit to take a leaf out of Pat Cummins’ book, on how the Aussie captain approached the second Test after the defeat in Perth.
“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,” he said.
