Former Pakistani captain and PCB chief Ramiz Raja has fired a warning to Rohit Sharma over his captaincy of the Indian team saying that it won’t be easy for him to lead against the no.1 ranked Test side Australia, ahead of the first Test of the four-match series which will begin in Nagpur from February 9.
This came after the veteran opener played only two Test matches after replacing Virat Kohli as India’s full-time captain. The senior batter has missed eight of India’s last 10 Test matches.
“Rohit Sharma’s captaincy will be put to the test, there is no doubt about that. There isn’t going to be a single session in the first Test where Australia won’t fight hard. There won’t be any flat sessions. The strategy needs to be full-proof and so does the selection. There also needs to be clarity over the conditions they want to trump Australia,” Ramiz said on his YouTube channel.
This will be the first big series in which Rohit will captain the side, as he missed the ICC WTC final 2021 due to contracting Covid and was injured when India toured Bangladesh last year for Tests.
India Should Play Suryakumar Yadav: Ramiz Raja Advises Indian Team
Furthermore, Ramiz Raja opined that the Rohit Sharma-led side should hand Suryakumar his debut Test cap in Nagpur. Raja welcomed the inclusion of Suryakumar and Ishan Kishan, who have done well in white-ball cricket for India, in the Test squad as well.
With Suryakumar being a veteran of Indian FC cricket, Ramiz backed the cricketer to do well in Tests as well and said that he can be used to put pressure on the Australian bowlers.
“India should play Suryakumar Yadav. He will generate pace with the bat. They have named a lot of T20 players in their squad for the first two Tests, which is good because action is what gets a thumbs-up from everyone in Test cricket these days. We saw how England scored 350-400 runs in a single day against Pakistan. The more pace you generate, the more pressure you can create. India have a great opportunity to create pressure,” Raja said.
Australia are touring India for the first time since 2017. Visitors India had upstaged Australia 2-1 in the three-match series at the time. Raja said that beating India at home is an impossible task, but Australia knows how to create pressure.
“Australia recently played a very gruelling Test series in Pakistan. It was a very tough series, with matches going on till the final day. They played the pressure points better than Pakistan in the last half an hour to win. Australians are known to create relentless pressure and will do the same in this series as well. They know that it is a very big series for them, as beating India at home is almost an impossible task,” Raja added.
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