Rohit drops to middle-order, lets Rahul open
Rohit Sharma prioritizes team success by batting in the middle order, showcasing leadership ahead of the second Test against Australia.
Adelaide: Cricket is a team sport but at the same time, it is also about individual pursuits. The team may be doing well but if you are doing poorly, they’ll look past you because there never is a dearth of options, especially in India. So, once in the comfort zone, most players are reluctant to move out of it.
Skipper Rohit Sharma hasn’t batted down the order in six years and he has had great success as opener — in 37 matches, he has scored 2685 runs at an average of 44.01. Many would have expected him to slot back into his preferred position as soon as he was back with the team after missing the first Test.
But Rohit had other ideas though because as he saw KL Rahul bat in Perth, he just knew that this guy must continue at the top of the order.
“(Rahul) will be opening the batting. I’ll be somewhere in the middle,” Rohit told reporters on Thursday. “Those two guys at the top – just looking at this one Test match (in Perth) – they batted brilliantly.
“I was at home with my newborn in my arms and I was watching how KL batted and it was brilliant, to be honest. I felt there was no need to change that now. Maybe in the future things will be different. Based on what has happened and what KL has shown outside India, he probably deserves that place at this point in time.”
Rohit added: “It is something that has given us success in the first Test to have that partnership with Jaiswal. It probably won us the Test match. When you come here to a place like Perth and you get (nearly) 500 runs (in the second innings – 487/6 declared), it’s a massive tick of the box. I don’t see the need to change that. It was actually pretty simple for me – personally not easy – but for the team, it made a lot of sense.”
There is the occasional athlete who doesn’t mind putting his ego to rest, who actually gives us more than he gets. And, at times, it isn’t appreciated as much as it should be. If Rohit had opened, no one would have said anything but this was him showing leadership… putting the team first. Captaincy isn’t just scoring runs and winning matches. It is about building something.
He’s done this before too. Maybe not in ways this obvious. For example, when he wanted the team to start batting at a higher tempo in white-ball cricket, Rohit decided to walk the talk. When the captain does it the impact it has on the other players, especially the juniors, is immense.
There is still a Test to be played (and won) but just this act would have lifted the mood of the team and sometimes that can play a very important role in how each player fights for the other.
The build-up to the second Test has been a long one. Each point has been broken down to its core — the pink ball, India’s relative inexperience against it, Australia’s brilliant record in day-night Tests, the divide in the Aussie camp, the pressure on the hosts. Now, all that remains is the cricket — the time for talk is over.
“I think at any Test match there’s pressure, when you’re down there’s a little bit more, especially when you’re at home, but we’ve been in similar situations, you know, whether it’s World Cups or other series where you’re in must-win kind of situations,” said Australia skipper Pat Cummins.
He added: “We’re not quite there yet, but we love playing here, we love playing in Australia, we know we weren’t at our best (in the first Test), got a few things to work on, you know, this week’s been great, everyone’s really focused on kind of ahead and excited for the challenge of the next four Test matches, but everyone’s got a lot of personal pride, professional pride, so there’s pressure on you any time you play, even just for that, let alone the scoreboard being down 1-0.”
Many in Australia are waiting to see the reaction to that massive defeat in Perth. Will the home team even the score or will India, already in a good place, grow stronger? The hosts are making one change to their XI from Perth with Scott Boland coming in for the injured Josh Hazlewood.
Adelaide has traditionally been kind to Australia in day-night Tests, they are yet to lose a match here in the seven games so far. But India come armed with a different kind of confidence this time around and that might be an important factor.
“The younger players do not travel with a lot of mental baggage. Jaiswal, Gill Pant… these are cricketers from a different generation. When we came here for the first time, we put too much pressure on ourselves. But every generation is different and the players of this era are fearless and this perhaps what is working for them too.
“Whenever I speak to them or listen to them… there is just one thing on their mind: how can we win the match… they are not thinking about a hundred or a double hundred… and once you start thinking like this, the performances come along as well. I don’t know if someone speaks to them about these things but this seems to be their natural mindset.”
That is the mindset Australia are up against. This isn’t an India in awe. This is an India that want to dominate. Can Cummins and Co can rise to the challenge and knock them down a few pegs? Rest assured, it won’t be easy.
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