BGT: Rohit can throw first punch in Brisbane by opening the batting, says Shastri

New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) Former India head coach Ravi Shastri said the only way a struggling Rohit Sharma can assert himself in the upcoming Brisbane Test is by throwing the first punch towards Australia as an opener.

Rohit could only make nine runs in two innings as a number six batter in India’s ten-wicket defeat to Australia at the Adelaide Oval, as the hosts’ squared the five-match series 1-1. Those two scores meant Rohit is now averaging just 11.83 in his last six Tests.

"That’s where he’s been at his best over the last eight or nine years. It’s not that he’s going to set the world on fire – he could – but that’s the place that’s best for him. To lead from the front. If he has to do damage, if he has to throw the first punch, that’s the best place from where he can do it.

"And it is important that India get their judgement right here, because 1-1 in the series, this is the moving Test match. I feel whichever team wins this Test match will win the series. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind. So it is very, very important that India get the balance right, because Australia have got the confidence back," Shastri was quoted as saying by The Sydney Morning Herald.

Shastri, who coached India to successive 2-1 Test series victories in Australia in 2018/19 and 2020/21, recalled about how Shubman Gill advised Rishabh Pant, who remained 89 not out, in scripting a memorable chase of 328 at the Gabba, to seal an unforgettable series win.

"I’ll never forget it. Last session, 140 runs to get. We had two different change rooms because of Covid. I went down from the coaches’ room to have a chat with either Rishabh or (Cheteshwar) Pujara. When I was about to reach the toilet, I heard a conversation between Gill and Pant.

"Seventy-one overs bowled; Gill had got out for 91, and they were the two youngest players in the side, 21 and 22. ‘Nine overs left, they need the new ball, they’ll bring (Marnus) Labuschagne on with his leg spin, you’ve got to score 45-50 runs there’.

"They are planning how they can reach closer to the end score, and no way was I going to stop them; I don’t want to change that mindset. So I just walked past and said ‘do what you have to do’. In the end, we chased down nearly 150 in that last session,” he concluded.

Shastri also stated that the Indian team’s unity during the 2020/21 series, despite strict Covid-19 measures, was critical to their epic victory, especially after being 36 all out in the series opener in Adelaide.

"Being locked up and then having to give their best in the middle, and in a country like India where there’s 1.4 billion people, there’s no sympathy. ‘To hell with Covid, what’s Covid, jolly well win the Test match.' That’s all they want. So there’s no hiding in our part of the world.

"In Covid, the first Test match you start with five bowlers and the same five bowlers don’t play the last Test. That says it all, it’s like Australia playing without these five bowlers in the last Test of the series; it’s a different ball game.

"Plus, you didn’t have quite a few batsmen as well. So it’s a tribute to the players. You can only do so much as a coach from behind the scenes. At the end of it, it’s the players who have to go out there and do their job and they were magnificent," he concluded.