Former India head coach Ravi Shastri, who knows a thing or two about winning Test rubbers in Australia, asked India skipper Rohit Sharma on Thursday to return to the opening match “if he has to deliver the first blow” on an opponent brimming with confidence sit. Shastri was team director when India won their first Test series in Australia in 2017-18 and was the head coach when the side brilliantly rallied to stun the hosts on the final tour in 2020-21.
The switch to Rohit at number six did not yield the desired results for India and they were hammered by 10 wickets in the second Test in Adelaide, leaving the five-match clash at 1-1 and with everything to play for in what Shastri believes could decide the fate of the series.
“That's where he (Rohit) has been at his best for the last eight or nine years,” Shastri told '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 of from which he can do damage.” Rohit had just one fifty in his last ten 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 he was the captain supported to take action. middle order.
Shastri said he has no doubt that the winner of the third Test, starting here on Saturday, could claim the series.
“I feel that whichever team wins this Test match will win the series. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind. So it is very important that India gets the right balance because Australia has got the confidence back,” said the former captain. .
The 2021 triumph is considered one of the greatest in the history of Indian cricket and Shastri, while speaking at the Usman Khawaja Foundation's first annual luncheon at the Gabba, said the unity the team showed despite limitations like due to COVID-19, was played a big role in the historic victory.
“In COVID you start the first Test match 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 that many batsmen. So it's a tribute to the players.
“There's only so much you can do from behind the scenes as a coach. At the end of the day, it's the players who have to go out and do their job, and they were great.” Four years ago, after being bowled out for their lowest Test total of 36 in Adelaide, India staged a stunning comeback by winning two of their remaining three matches and emerging victorious.
Shastri fondly recalled a conversation between Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill, who helped the latter with some useful tips soon after his dismissal, when India went for the jugular and scored 140 runs in the final session of play to shock the hosts. Gabba, which until then had been the home team's fortress.
“I will never forget it,” Shastri said.
“Last session, 140 runs to get. Due to COVID, we had two different changing rooms. I walked out of the coaches room to have a chat with Rishabh or (Chateshwar) Pujara. When I was about to reach the toilet, I I heard a conversation between Gill and Pant.
“Seventy-one overs bowled, Gill was out for 91, and they were the two youngest players in the side, 21 and 22. “There are nine overs left, they need the new ball, they will take (Marnus) Labuschagne with his leg is turning, you have to score 45-50 runs there'.
“They are planning how to get closer to the final score, and there was no way I was going to stop them, I don't want to change that mentality. So I just walked past them and said 'do what you have to do'.” We ended up chasing almost 150 in that last session.”
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