New Delhi [India] April 16 (ANI): Indian captain Rohit Sharma has discussed changing his batting position in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024 against Australia. He was impressed by the batting of Jaiswal and Rahul in Australia and decided to stick with them for the series.
“When we got to, when I got to Australia, things were slightly different because I honestly saw them bat. Jaiswal and Rahul. I watched it, even though I had a newborn in my hand, but I was still watching it. And I loved what they were doing. So I said, why do we need to change that? You know, this is the series that we want to win desperately. We want to qualify for the World Test Championship,” Rohit said while speaking on Michael Clarke’s YouTube channel, Beyond23 Cricket Podcast.
Sharma said that he was initially unsure about opening the batting but decided to stick with his usual position.
“So it was a mixed thought, but I just felt like, let’s go with that. And there’s nothing wrong in that. Then in that Adelaide game, I didn’t have a great game. Yeah. Then I went back to my room, and I thought, okay, should I open, man? What’s going on? I would, I would rather fail doing what I do. And where I do it. Yeah. Okay, that’s my place. That’s my position. I would rather go there and bat, and you know, whether I get success or not, it’s a different story, but I am in my position. That’s my role for the team.”
He decided to give himself another game after a poor performance in Adelaide.
“I said, no, it’s only one game. Let’s not think too much. Let’s not overthink. Let’s give it another game. It’s one all. We can try and change things around, probably in Brisbane. And then it was a draw in that game as well. And then Melbourne, when we got back to Melbourne, and then we changed our mind, we changed our thought a little bit. And then I went back to open the innings. And then the last test match in Sydney, I had to be honest with myself that I was not hitting the ball well.”
“And I didn’t want it to put myself there only because we had a lot of the other guys who were struggling as well. So, and then you add yourself in there, it just becomes a little more… And we somehow wanted Gil to play. He’s such a good player. And he missed out in the previous test match. We wanted him to play,” he added.
In the 2024/25 Test season, which started with the home series against Bangladesh, Rohit scored just 164 runs in eight matches and 15 innings at an average of 10.93 with the best score of 52. During the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he could make just 31 runs in three Tests with the best score of 10. His form struggles were such that he opted out of the final Test at Sydney. (ANI)
