India took an early lead by an innings and 132 runs in the first match of the historic Border-Gavaskar Cup Test cricket series against Australia at home. Therefore, India has brightened the chance of the Test Championship final to be held in London in July and is training with the intention of winning the 2nd match to be held in Delhi on February 17. Earlier in the series, Australia, who had been heavily critical of the Nagpur pitch, suffered a dismal defeat without showing it in action.
Also, considering that Ravichandran Ashwin will give a big challenge, the Australian team trained by looking for local spinner Mahesh Pithia, who bowls like him. In the end, Ashwin showed his expected performance by collecting 8 wickets and 23 runs. But Rohit Sharma played a major role in India’s victory by showing unexpected performances and scoring 120 runs on the ground which was really favorable for spin.
Model of Sevak:
Former Aussies like Ian Chappell lauded him for showing how to play on the spin-friendly Nagpur pitch, especially when he fared better than previous challengers like Virat Kohli and Pujara. In this case, Ravi Shastri has praised Rohit Sharma who has given a real good start to India even though Ashwin and Virat Kohli are expected to give a good start in this series.
Ravi Shastri had said earlier that Ravichandran Ashwin’s form in particular would decide the winner of the series. But in this series Rohit Sharma will play aggressively like former player Virender Sehwag in difficult situations and keep the opponents from settling as follows, he talked about this on the ICC website. “His stats as an opening batsman on Indian soil are amazing. He will dictate the terms at the very beginning of the series.”
“We talked about Ashwin, Virat Kohli and Pujara at that place. But it is Rohit Sharma who is currently in that position. Perhaps if he uses this good start throughout the series, it will be a huge consolation for the Indian team. His form in particular could decide the winner of this series. I’m not just saying this based on the runs he scores. Let me tell you how fast he accumulates it.”
“That means if Rohit Sharma is on the field he will add runs quickly. He will not let any bowler settle. Especially when Virender Sehwag is in good form, the runs come fast, just like when Rohit Sharma is on the field, the runs come naturally. Whenever Virender Sehwag is in good form, he will bowl the opposition early and make the middle order’s job very easy. Rohit Sharma should do a similar job in this series,” he said.
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According to him, Rohit Sharma, who batted aggressively in the first match and quickly crossed a half-century, after the dismissal of important players like Virat Kohli and Pujara, acted calmly and eventually scored a century at a strike rate of 55. So Ravi Shastri has said that Rohit Sharma, who can show action like Sehwag, will be the decider of the winner in this series with pitches favorable to spin.