Former cricketer Harbhajan Singh opened up on India skipper Rohit Sharma’s recent form and said that he needs to make runs, reported Star Sports. Travis Head’s scintillating century at home, accompanied by brilliant bowling performances from Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins led Australia to a 10-wicket win at the Adelaide Oval in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The victory also ensured Australia reclaimed their place atop the WTC25 standings.
His captaincy also became a hot topic of debate after his decision to bat under gloomy Bengaluru sky in the opening Test against New Zealand. The single decision saw India back in the dressing room with its lowest home total, 46.
Even in the recently concluded second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in Adelaide, Rohit scored just nine runs, including two innings.
Speaking exclusively to Star Sports, Harbhajan Singh said that Rohit will think better and do better things if he scores some runs. He also hoped that the India skipper would put some runs on the scoreboard soon.
“As a captain, I would like Rohit Sharma to make runs. When he scores runs, he will think better and do better things. No matter how big a player is, he is always worried about his performance. There is no doubt that when a player scores runs, he makes a better decision. So, let’s hope that Rohit Sharma scores some runs so that his captaincy gets better,” Harbhajan Singh was quoted by Star Sports as saying.
Recapping the Adelaide Test, India won the toss and opted to bat first. However, they had to face the wrath of a moving, erratic pink ball and its mastermind, Mitchell Starc (6/48). Except for a 69-run stand for the second wicket between KL Rahul (37 in 64 balls with six fours) and Shubman Gill (31 in 51 balls, with five fours) and a fighting 42 in 54 balls (three fours and three sixes) from Nitish Kumar Reddy, there was not much highlights from India who were skittled out for 180 runs. Skipper Cummins and Scott Boland also took two wickets.
In the first innings, a 67-run partnership between Nathan McSweeney (39 in 109 balls, with six fours) and Marnus Labuschagne (64 in 126 balls, with nine fours) for second wicket set the platform for Travis Head to impose his domination over Indian bowlers yet again with a counter-attacking 140 in 141 balls, with 17 fours and four sixes, just when Aussies lost some regular wickets. His century took Australia to 337 runs and gave them a 157-run lead.
Jasprit Bumrah (4/61) and Mohammed Siraj (4/98) were top bowlers for India. Ravichandran and Nitish got a wicket each.
In their second innings, India appeared even more toothless as the star-studded top-order and middle-order returned back to pavillion despite starts from Jaiswal (24 in 31 balls, with four boundaries), Gill (28 in 30 balls, with three fours) while KL Rahul (7) and Virat Kohli (11 in 21 balls with a four) failed to score well. India ended day two at 128/5.
On the third day, Pant also lost his wicket for 28 in 31 balls, with five fours. From there on, it was not looking back for the Aussies, who skittled out India for 175 runs in 36.5 overs. India led by just 18 runs, setting Aussies 19 runs to win.
Skipper Cummins (5/67) took a majestic five-wicket haul, his eighth as a captain. Boland took 3/51 while Starc took 2/60.
Set a target of 19 runs, Khawaja (10*) and McSweeney (9*) chased it down without breaking a sweat in 3.2 overs.
Topics mentioned in this article
