Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has backed Rohit Sharma to continue batting at number six in the third Test match against Australia in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series. Rohit missed the opening Test at Perth to be with his family for the birth of his second child and KL Rahul was able to grab the opening chance in his absence.
Rahul returned with scores of 26 and 77 in the opening Test and thus delivered for the team. Thus, Rohit decided to bat at number six but returned with scores of 3 and 6 in the second Test at Adelaide.
Rohit isn’t in the best of forms as he has scored a solitary fifty in the last six Test matches.
Meanwhile, legendary Sunil Gavaskar and former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri have suggested that Rohit should take back the opening slot in the third Test at Brisbane.
“The question is – where will Rohit Sharma bat? I was listening to Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri. They said he should open as the experiment (KL Rahul opening) was just for one match, and since it worked in one match, you followed it in the second match, but now that experiment is over,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
Chopra highlighted that Rohit should have opened in Adelaide if he would do the same in the rest of the series.
“It’s possible. He is the captain. He has been your most successful opener since he started opening. Then he can be an opener. There is no doubt about that. However, if he was going to play as an opener only, he could have done that in the pink-ball Test too,” he observed.
The renowned commentator added it doesn’t make sense to keep making changes based on previous Test match’s success.
“There is no hard and fast rule that you should do things according to what happened in the last match because if you do that, changes will start happening after every match – you do the same thing if it worked in one match, and then reverse it in the third match if it didn’t work in the second. It cannot happen like that,” Chopra added.
Chopra concluded by saying that Rohit should keep batting at number six in the rest of the series.
“I feel he should remain where he is. He should bat in the middle order. He and Rishabh Pant can decide No. 5 or No. 6 between them based on the situation. I am not seeing him playing as an opener, to be very honest,” he said.
The third Test match between India and Australia will be played at the Gabba, Brisbane from December 14.
