Legendary cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Ricky Ponting had an intense discussion about India captain Rohit Sharma‘s batting order in the 1st innings of the second Test against Australia in Adelaide. Rohit, who missed the series opener in Perth, dropped himself to no. 6 in the batting order to accomodate KL Rahul at the top of the order. Rahul put on an impressive show in the first Test, helping India thrash Australia by 295 runs. As a result, Rohit sacrificed his position to allow Rahul in continuing as an opener.
While Rahul hit a 64-ball 37 in the first innings, Rohit managed just three runs. Speaking on the change in the batting order, Gavaskar defended Rohit for dropping down the order. However, Ponting disagreed with the legendary batter.
With Rohit skipping the 1st Test in Perth for the birth of his second child, Gavaskar was of the opinion that the India captain batting at the top wasn’t ideal as he did not have any match practice in the lead up to the match in Adelaide.
“The previous Test, you have a 200-run partnership between Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal. You don’t want to break that, they have that momentum and confidence. Besides, Rohit Sharma hasn’t played any serious cricket for more than a month, the last time he played for India was November 3, we are at December 6,” Gavaskar told 7Cricket.
“Clearly, it was required that he would be able to see what was happening, pink ball isn’t easy to play, India hasn’t played pink-ball test in maybe 2-3 years, so dropping himself down the order was, to me, a correct move,” he added.
However, Ponting perceived it from a different perspective. The former Australia captain suggested that Rohit might have to bat no. 6 for the rest of his Test career, especially with Rahul doing well at the top.
“I actually disagree with what Sunny said. I feel he should’ve come back in the side and open the batting. KL Rahul has been a fringe player around this team for a number of years. Yes, he got his chance and he played in Perth. But what it seems to be now is that Rohit Sharma is going to spend the rest of his career down the order Because KL Rahul has played well, Shubman Gill looked good in the first innings, so he looks certain. The only spot for Rohit Sharma in the side now is no.6 and that might be where he stays for the rest of his career,” Ponting argued.
“He is a class player, although his record isn’t that good against Australia. I think he has only made one century against Australia. The captain coming back in, and batting in the middle, was a bit of an eye opener, but those are the decisions that a captain has to make,” he added.
Topics mentioned in this article
