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Kerry O’Keeffe pointed out how Australia’s mentally dominated Rohit Sharma to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
Former cricketer makes stunning comparison between Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane
Former spinner Kerry O’Keeffe believes that Indian captain Rohit Sharma crumbled under the psychological tactics Australia traditionally use to wear down opposing skippers during the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Bumrah led India in the first Test in Perth while Rohit stayed back in India for the birth of his second child. India won that match by 295 runs. When Rohit reunited with the unit in the second Test in Adelaide, both his form and India’s fortunes took a nosedive. After scoring 31 runs in 5 innings, came the Sydney Test from which he opted out and Bumrah was back into the captain’s shoes.
“They couldn’t bring down (Jasprit) Bumrah. He was too good. But then the baton was passed to Rohit Sharma, and they brought him down straight away, to the extent that he withdrew from the final Test,” O’Keeffe told Fox Sports.
“So that’s a tactic they seem to want to do if they can—if they can break the skipper and make him anonymous, it empowers them,” he added.
India lost the five-match series 1-3, with Rohit managing just 31 runs from three Tests at a dismal average of 6.20.
O’Keeffe pointed out how Australia’s inability to mentally dominate Ajinkya Rahane during the 2021-22 series contributed to India’s victory.
“They couldn’t get Ajinkya Rahane the last time, and he won the series,” he said.
“But if you look at the captains they’ve brought down in recent times—Sharma. Shan Masood with Pakistan. It was three-nil. Kraigg Brathwaite, it was one-all, but they were on top of Kraigg.
“They went to New Zealand and brought down Tim Southee, winning two-nil,” he added.
The former leg-spinner also said veteran batter and former India skipper Virat Kohli had become the “bunny” of pacer Scott Boland in the series. After a hundred in Perth, Kohli was dismissed repeatedly poking outside the off-stump and ended the series with 190 runs at an average of 23.75.
(With Agency Inputs)
