Indian captain Rohit Sharma has put his weight behind under-fire Virat Kohli for the rest of the Border-Gavaskar trophy. Barring scoring an unbeaten 100 in the second innings at Perth, Kohli has returned with scores of 5, 7, 11, and 3 in the first three Test matches of the series.
Earlier, Kohli could only manage 99 runs in two Test matches against Bangladesh at an average of 33. Furthermore, the veteran batter scored only 93 runs in three Test matches at an average of 15.50 against New Zealand despite playing at home.
Rohit said in the pre-match press conference on Tuesday, “You only said he’s a modern-day great. Modern-day greats will figure out their own path.”
On the other hand, Rohit revealed that they will take a call on their playing XI after looking at the pitch. The MCG pitch is mostly good for batting and Rohit noted that the track doesn’t look dry.
“We’ll see how much grass there is on the wicket, whether spinners will be required or not. We’ll have to see all of this. We have just have today (to practice and asses) and then off tomorrow (because of Christmas), even the groundsmen will not be there at the ground either. So, we’ll have to do decide today after checking the wicket,” Rohit said.
“Usually, in the last two or three Test matches played here, there wasn’t that much grass on the wicket. It looked a dry wicket. Certainly, this doesn’t look like a dry wicket to me. We’ll analyse the wicket properly and check what combination will be ideal and then take a decision accordingly,” he added.
India’s batting has been a disappointment in the ongoing Test series and Rohit Sharma is also under the pump as he has managed scores of 3, 6, and 10 in his three innings.
The fourth Test match between India and Australia will be played at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground from 26th December.
