IND VS AUS 2023: Rohit Sharma’s match-winning century in the first test match at Nagpur just set the tone for the whole series, Men in Blue are now leading the Border Gavaskar Trophy by 2-0 against Australia. The right-handed batter is the leading run-scorer in four matches test series with 193 runs in three innings for India.
Ian Chappell advised visitors batters to look at the Indian skipper’s batting in the series, former Australian skipper stated that Sharma has shown that batting is not impossible on testing Indian pitches.
Chappell wrote in the column that playing a sweep shot is not the answer to playing good spin bowling-
“Sweeping regularly is not the answer to playing good spin bowling, and anyone who says so is talking through his hat,”
“The odd player is very good at sweeping and should utilise the shot, but for the majority, there are better ways. Any good spin bowler who makes the ball bounce is likely to expose the dangers in sweeping constantly,” said former Australian skipper.
In the Delhi test match, almost five Australian players were out playing sweep shots in the second innings, India’s spin twin Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin together dismissed all batters of the visitors’ side in the second stint of the test match. Left-arm spinner Jadeja picked seven wickets in Baggy Greens’ 113-run stretch in the second test match. The Australian team lost nine wickets on the morning season of the third day of the second test match at Delhi.
“You don’t discover how to play good spin bowling later in life on a scarified Australian pitch just prior to a vital tour of India. You have to learn good footwork — coming three paces out of your crease or retreating quickly onto the back foot — at a young age,” said Chappell
Rohit Sharma ?Shubman Gill#RohitSharma #ShubmanGill #India #INDvsAUS #Tests #ODIs #T20Is #Cricket pic.twitter.com/DwFdOPpi6w
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) February 27, 2023
Coming into the tour the Baggy Greens opted to not play a tour match, rather they prepared special pitches in Sydney to prepare for Indian wickets.
“A successful player needs to quickly work out how to survive the first ten minutes on a typical Indian pitch that encourages spin, and hope he enjoys a share of luck. If he plays sensibly, like Rohit Sharma has admirably shown during the series, batting isn’t impossible on testing Indian pitches,” said the 79-year-old on Indian skipper.
Team India will now be looking to win the third test match of four test match series to secure their place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final. Rohit Sharma-led side will take on Australia for the next test match at Indore on March 1st.