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Ex-India coach's 'massive series' prediction for Rohit Sharma ahead of Border-Gavaskar Trophy
The upcoming home Test series against Australia marks the return of Rohit Sharma as India's captain in red-ball cricket.
India have played just five Test matches since Rohit Sharma was named the team's captain in February 2022. Among these, Rohit only actually led them in two, which came against Sri Lanka in February last year itself at home. Injuries subsequently kept him out of the postponed fifth Test in England in July and the two-Test series in Bangladesh in December.
India now host Australia in a much-anticipated four-match Test series starting on February. Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar feels that this will be a big series for the 35-year-old as a captain in Test cricket. "It's a massive series for Rohit purely for the reason that whenever he was at his best, unfortunately, injuries made him sit out a lot of Test matches from 2015 to 2018. In 2018, when he was batting really well, he had to miss a Test match because he wanted to come back home to be with his family for personal reasons," Bangar said on Star Sports.
Rohit had found little success in Test cricket until he started opening for India in October 2019. He played a starring role in India levelling the five-match Test series against England 2-2 in 2021 before it was postponed due to a Covid-19 outbreak in the Indian camp. He was also one of the few batters who managed to score significant runs during England's tour of India earlier that year.
"He has already conquered in his own mind the challenge of batting in English conditions in Test match cricket as an opener. Against England in India, we saw what a terrific series he had at home. So he obviously would keep this at the top of his to-do mark to do really well as a captain against the Australian team.
"He has those skillsets, if he can see through the new ball with the same kind of discipline that he showed against the English bowlers in swinging conditions, I am pretty sure he will be able to set up a great foundation for the team," said Bangar.
