Legendary Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar believes that Indian captain Rohit Sharma must rapidly make the mental adjustment as he prepares for the forthcoming two-test series against South Africa, which begins on December 26. With World Test Championship points on the line, the 36-year-old might be crucial to the team’s success in red-ball cricket.
The India captain appears to have put the disappointment of the World Cup final defeat behind him as he prepares for his maiden Test as captain in South Africa. Rohit Sharma will captain India in the Boxing Day Test at Centurion, his first competitive match since the World Cup final loss against Australia.
Following a brilliant batting performance in the ODI World Cup 2023, Sunil Gavaskar urged Indian captain Rohit Sharma to curb his natural aggressive instincts in the game and shift his mentality into the longer format of the game and believes that he needs to completely change his approach to play for a long time in South Africa, which could help India post a high total in the series.
“First and foremost, the challenge would be to get your mental state into a Test match situation, He has been batting in the one-day format, where he had decided that he would be playing the attacking role and try and score as much as possible before the field restrictions were lifted in the first 10 overs. We saw that in the World Cup. That was his approach for the World Cup”.
“For Test cricket, he has to change his approach completely because he has to think in terms of batting the whole day. If he bats the whole day, then clearly, with the range of shots he has got, he will be able to end up with 150-plus not, then India will be 300-plus or 350-plus,” Sunil Gavaskar said in Star Sports.
Rohit Sharma was at his absolute best in the World Cup, playing the role of the aggressor at the top of the order. The Indian skipper scored 597 runs at a strike rate of 125, assisting the team in getting off to brilliant starts in the majority of the matches, including the semi-final and final, putting pressure on the high-quality oppositions.
That’s Going To Be A Big Challenge For Rohit Sharma – Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar believes that Rohit Sharma’s scoring runs at the top of the order will boost the confidence of the entire team and that the biggest challenge for Rohit Sharma will be to motivate the guys around him to lead the team from the front.
“That’s the change he has to do. As a batter, when you are batter-captain, the moment you score run, your confidence in leading the side also increases. That’s going to be a big challenge for Rohit Sharma,” Sunil Gavaskar added.
Rohit Sharma has scored only 123 runs in whites in South Africa averaging little more than 15 runs, but this will be his first Test visit to the country since beginning a revitalizing run as Test opener in 2019, and would be keen on leading the team to their first test series victory in South Africa.