Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players'Rohit Sharma says come at me if you want. I will...': Simon Doull on India captain's 'puffed chest' moment vs Australia
Reacting to Rohit Sharma's century in the first Test against Australia in which the India captain hit two sixes and 15 fours, scoring 120 at a strike rate of 56, former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull said the right-hander thrives under tough situations.
Among all the batters of both India and Australia, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel looked the most comfortable while batting on the Nagpur track during the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Rohit, Jadeja and Axar trusted their defence against the Australian spinners, which allowed them to bat long. It was no surprise that they were the only ones to have crossed individual milestones during the series opener. Rohit was the only one to score a century (120) while Jadeja (70) and Axar (84) made invaluable contributions down the order.
It would be a difficult task to choose between Jadeja and Axar but one would not have to think twice to name the best batter on display in Nagpur. It was Rohit Sharma hands down. The Indian captain, who tends to bring out his best on turning pitches at home, displayed a masterclass on how to mix caution with aggression against two spinners on a track that kept the tweakers interested from the first session of the Test match.
The assurance that Rohit gave while defending and the power that he generated while on the offence was second to none. Reacting to Rohit's knock in which the right-hander hit two sixes and 15 fours, scoring at a strike rate of 56, former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull said the Indian captain thrives under tough situations.
Also Read | 'Say what you want, Australia got smoked and dusted…': Clark lands heavy blows
"I think Rohit is one of those cricketers, when things are tough, he fights. He's just one of those tough blokes who stands up when the opposition is coming at you. He says come at me if you want. I'll come at you harder. His captaincy is a little bit like that as well. When it's been a bit hard, he has sort of found a way to fight through it. He has fought fire with fire. He was quite aggressive in his innings as well. When he plays with that sort of confidence, he puffs the chest out and takes on the opposition. I like that about him," Doull told Sports Yaari.
Rohit also handled the three Indian spinners - Ashwin, Jadeja and Axar - quite well. When asked about Australia's choice of going in with two off-spinners who are largely similar in nature when India decided to field two left-arm spinners, Doull said the Pat Cummins-led side may have missed a trick by not picking someone like Ashton Agar but they shouldn't have any complaints about the way debutant Todd Murphy performed. The youngster picked up 7 wickets. Doull said the decision that really surprised him was to leave out Travis Head.
"India were always gonna play Jadeja and Axar and maybe they thought about Kuldeep as well. I think they missed a trick, they should have had a left-arm spinner in the XI. But when you look at what the debutant has done, it's an interesting scenario. Teams going to India tend to pick spinners for the sake of picking one rather than picking their best bowlers. If your spinners aren't quality enough up against high-quality batting then they are not going to have success. I think the biggest mistake they did was leaving Travis Head out. He was one of their best batters in Test cricket in recent times along with Labuschagne and Smith," he added.
