The former leg-spinner of Australia, Kerry O’Keefe feels that the Australian captain Pat Cummins and his team will be targeting the Indian captain Rohit Sharma for their upcoming five-match Test series of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 to send a message to the entire unit. There is uncertainty about the participation of the veteran in the series opener.
Rohit Sharma is expected to miss the first Test at the Optus Stadium in Perth, starting from November 22, because of the birth of his child to spend time with the family and could end up potentially being absent for the day-night affair of the second game of the series in Adelaide. Jasprit Bumrah is primed to lead the side in his absence.
The opening batter didn’t travel with the first two batches of the team during their departure to Australia for the series. He hasn’t played a lot of Test matches down under, having scored 408 runs in 14 innings at an average of 31.38 and a strike rate of over 47 with the help of three half-centuries at the best score of unbeaten 63 runs.
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Rohit Sharma has collected 708 runs in 22 innings against this opponent at an average of 33.71 and a strike rate of 52.17, shouldering on one century and three half-centuries. He is coming into the BGT 2024-25 on the back of his poor performance of 91 runs in six innings against New Zealand at an average of 15 with one solitary half-century in the bag.
Renowned commentator expects Australia to be hostile against Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli
Kerry O’Keefe reckoned that the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, and Virat Kohli have had to tolerate the bowlers’ hostility in the past. But going after the leader of the team with aggressive fielding, bowling, and sledding, the team will wish to dictate the proceedings to make it as uncomfortable as possible.
“Rohit Sharma may miss one or two Tests, but he is the captain, and Australia always tries to torpedo the visiting captain. It’s been a tactic they’ve used forever, and I think, they’ll go very hard at Rohit Sharma.” O’Keefe expressed to Fox Sports.
Along with Rohit, Virat Kohli is coming into the series on the back of his poor performance in the home series against the Kiwis, where he could smash only 93 runs in six innings at an average of 15.50 with one solitary half-century on his name.
The struggle of Kohli against the left-arm spinners was exposed heavily by the spin twin Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel. This is not something the former Indian captain could expect in Australia, but the pacers will have their say with some quality and hostile bowling.
Since making his arrival in the country, the Delhi-born has grabbed all the limelight, while questions have been raised regarding his recent form in the game.
“Kohli, who has worried them (Australia) over the years, what a stunning player he’s been; but in sport, if you sense that the king of the jungle is slightly weaker, you poke a bit of cheek at him.” He noted in the same discussion.
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“I‘m fascinated to see what Virat Kohli ends up with at the end of the summer. It could be the decisive point in the whole summer. If he has a blazing series, India could win.” Kerry concluded.
In the absence of Rohit Sharma towards the beginning of the series, the responsibility will be on the shoulders of the batting department and will hugely be on Kohli.