Brisbane: Former India head coach Ravi Shastri, who knows a thing or two about winning Test rubbers in Australia, on Thursday asked India skipper Rohit Sharma to return to the opening slot “if he has to throw the first punch” on an opponent brimming with confidence.
Shastri was serving as team director when India won their maiden Test series in Australia in 2017-18 and was the head coach when the side rallied brilliantly to stun the hosts in the last tour in 2020-21.
The move to slot Rohit at number six did not yield the desired results for India and they were hammered by 10 wickets in the second Test at Adelaide, leaving the five-match clash locked at 1-1 and with everything to play for in what Shastri believes could decide the fate of the series.
“That’s where he’s (Rohit) been at his best over the last eight or nine years,” Shastri was quoted as saying by ‘The Age’. “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...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.”
Rohit had only one fifty in his last 10 innings heading into the Pink-ball Test last week when Shastri, interestingly, advised against changing the opening combination of Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul after their success in the position while backing the captain to bat in the middle-order.
Shastri said he has no doubt the winner of the third Test could go on to claim the series. “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,” the former captain said. The triumph of 2021 is considered one of the greatest in the history of Indian cricket and Shastri, while speaking at the first annual Usman Khawaja Foundation lunch at the Gabba.