New Delhi:
Former Indian cricket team head coach Ravi Shastri believes that skipper Rohit Sharma was quite ‘subdued’ during the loss against Australia in the pink-ball Test against Australia in Adelaide. India were completely outplayed by the hosts as they slumped to a 10-wicket loss – a result that majorly dented their World Test Championship (WTC) Final hopes. Shastri said that he wants Rohit to be more animated and involved in the upcoming matches and believes that they can bounce back in the five-match series.
“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,” Ravi Shastri told the broadcasters.
Shastri also suggested that India should take a few lessons from Australia’s approach and reflect on their weaknesses in order to improve ahead of the third Test. The former India head coach also suggested that KL Rahul can go back to the middle-order with Rohit playing as an opening batter once again.
“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. 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,” Shastri said.
