The pressure has been immense on the Indian captain, Rohit Sharma, on how he would rearrange the batting order and what changes he would make for the third fixture of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 at the Gabba in Brisbane, especially after they face a 10-wicket defeat in the second encounter at the Adelaide Oval.
Rohit Sharma missed the opening Test of the series at the Optus Stadium in Perth, which the Blue Brigade went on to win by 295 runs under the captaincy of Jasprit Bumrah. The Nagpur-born missed the previous game due to the paternity leave for the birth of his second child.
In his absence, the opening duo for that game, KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, put on an opening partnership of 201 runs in the second innings. This led the Indian captain to settle himself at number six for the very first time since 2018 when he was trying to cement his position back in the side.
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Rohit Sharma, however, has enjoyed his batting in the middle order, having collected 1046 runs in 27 innings at an average of around 50 with a strike rate of nearly 60, shouldering on six half-centuries and three centuries with a best score of 177 that he celebrated on debut in Kolkata against West Indies.
Sunil Gavaskar advises India to open with Rohit Sharma for the Gabba Test
But his patience and incredible quality of batting at the opening position in the longest format, especially during the 2021 series in England, had stationed the 37-year-old at the top, where he has managed to nail 2685 opening runs at an average of 44.02 and a strike rate of nearly 60 with the help of eight half-centuries and nine centuries at the best score of 212.
The former Indian captain, Sunil Gavaskar, has requested the management to push Rohit Sharma back at the opening spot, with struggling Rahul, who cracked 37 and seven in the two innings of Adelaide, being brought back at number six.
“He should return to his regular spot. We should remember why Rahul had opened. He did that because Rohit Sharma was not available for the first Test.” The former Indian opening batter was highlighted during a discussion on Sports Tak.
KL Rahul has collected 2698 Test runs while opening the batting for India at an average of around 35 with the help of 13 half-centuries and seven centuries with a best score of 199, while his stats drop down a lot when he comes into the middle order.
The right-handed batter has smashed 234 runs in nine innings at the number six position at an average of around 30 with a strike rate of 70, having celebrated one century and as many as half-century. In Perth, the Karnataka-born displayed incredible patience in the first innings before notching up 77 runs in 176 balls during the second innings.
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“Now I can understand why they kept him as an opener in the second Test, he had a 200-plus partnership with Jaiswal. But now that he couldn’t score this Test, I feel Rahul should go back to No. 5 or No.6, and Rohit Sharma should open. If Rohit scores quickly in the beginning, then he can score a big century also later.” Sunil Gavaskar sheds light.
Rohit Sharma, on the post-match presentation, admitted that they were 30-40 runs short in the first innings of the pink-ball Adelaide Test and failed to take chances during Australia’s batting.
“We didn’t bat well enough, probably 30-40 runs short with the bat in the first innings. There were opportunities when Australia was batting, and we failed to take those chances.” Rohit Sharma concluded.