Former India head coach Ravi Shastri said the only way for struggling Rohit Sharma to prove himself in the upcoming Brisbane Test is to give the first blow to Australia as an opening batsman. Rohit could score only nine runs in two innings as the number six batsman in India’s ten-wicket defeat against Australia at the Adelaide Oval, as the hosts leveled the five-match series 1-1. Those two scores mean that Rohit now averages only 11.83 in his last six Test matches.
“This is where he has been at his best for the last eight or nine years. It’s not that he is going to take the world by storm – he can do that – but that’s where he is,” Shastri was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald. That’s the best place for him to be. If he has to cause damage, if he has to throw the first punch, that’s the best place he can do it.”
Shastri said, “And it is important that India gets its decision right here, because the series is currently at 1-1, it is a dynamic Test match. I think whichever team wins this Test match, will win the series. There is no doubt in my mind that it is very important that India gets the balance right because Australia has regained confidence.”
Shastri, who coached India to consecutive 2-1 Test series wins in Australia in 2018/19 and 2020/21, recalled how Shubman Gill advised Rishabh Pant to chase the target of 328 at the Gabba. Remained unbeaten on 89 runs while chasing, thereby registering an unforgettable series win. Shastri further said, “I will never forget it. Last season we had to score 140 runs. Due to Covid, we had two separate change rooms. I used to go down from the coach’s room to talk to Rishabh or (Cheteshwar) Pujara. When I was about to reach the toilet, I heard a conversation between Gill and Pant.”
Shastri further said, “71 overs were bowled; Gill was out for 91, and they were the two youngest players in the team, 21 and 22 years old. ‘There are nine overs left, they need the new ball, they ( Marnus) will bring in Labuschagne with leg spin, you have to score 45-50 runs there.” He concluded, “They’re planning how they can get closer to the final score, and I wasn’t going to stop them in any way; I didn’t want to change that mentality. So I just went ahead and said ‘Joe Have to do’. In the end, we chased around 150 runs in that last session.”
Shastri also said that the unity of the Indian team during the 2020/21 series, despite strict COVID-19 measures, was key to their spectacular win, especially after being all out for 36 runs in the series opener in Adelaide. Shastri said, “To be in lockdown and then give your best on the field, and in a country like India where there are 1.4 billion people, there is no sympathy. ‘To hell with Covid, what is Covid, win the Test match.’ That’s all they want. So there’s no hiding place in our part of the world.”
“In Covid, the first Test match you start with 5 bowlers and the same 5 bowlers don’t play the last Test. That says it all, it’s like Australia playing without these 5 bowlers in the last Test of the series; It’s a different game,” he concluded. “Besides, you didn’t have many batsmen. So this is a tribute to the players. You can only do so much as a coach behind the scenes. “At the end of the day, it’s the players who have to go out there and do their job and they were fantastic.”
