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Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has offered a solution, suggesting the team management to promote Shubman Gill up in the batting order.
Former India captain and head coach Ravi Shastri. (Getty Images)
Team India is yet to solve the opening riddle as question looms over Rohit Sharma’s participation in the Perth Test against Australia, starting next week. In the captain’s absence, the management is looking for options to pair Yashasvi Jaiswal with. In the first intra-squad game on Friday, Rahul walked out as Jaiswal’s partner, but his innings was cut short after he was hit by a Prasidh Krishna delivery. Though India have domestic stalwart Abhimanyu Easwaran in the squad, his performance in the recently concluded tour games against Australia A was concerning.
Meanwhile, former India head coach Ravi Shastri has offered a solution. Speaking to ICC, Shastri had some words of wisdom for head coach Gautam Gambhir, asking him to look around for clues during nets.
“That’s a tough one, and selectors have a choice. You can push Shubman (Gill) back up the order, and he has opened in the past in Australia. Otherwise, you’ll have to then make an alternative. Easwaran hasn’t done that well (for India A in Australia). But it’s how he’s batting in the nets, how Rahul is batting in the nets. But that Shubman Gill option is also there,” Shastri told ICC Review.
Gill made his Test debut in Australia in the last series Down Under. He played 3 matches and scored 259 runs, including 2 half-centuries.
India won the last two Test series Down Under in Shastri’s regime. He has been a strong advocate of the ‘horses for courses’ theory, and that’s why the playing XIs kept on getting altered during his tenure, especially in the overseas tours.
“It’s horses for courses in many ways. Most of the team will pick themselves, but there’ll be one or two cases where you might have to just go and dig deep and go with a gut feeling,” said Shastri.
“I would be watching them like a hawk in the nets, the batters and the bowlers because for me as a bowler, rhythm is important. And as a batter, again, tempo and rhythm is important,” he added.
Rohit Sharma Becomes A Father Again: Report
It has been learned that Rohit Sharma and his wife Ritika were blessed with a baby boy on Friday night. However, the Indian skipper is yet to confirm the development. Meanwhile, the news is everywhere, and fans are convinced that Rohit will join the team in Perth before the first Test begins next week.
