Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of the remaining 5th Test in England due to injury. After that now the big challenge awaits his captaincy against Australia. The first Test match between India and Australia will be held in Nagpur on the 9th.
Ravi Shastri is not the coach here to match the Australian aggression. Virat Kohli is also not the captain. This Australian team is different. Australia is not led by Steve Waugh, who attacks the opponents like a rabid dog like the old Australia and attacks the opponents with mental disintegration. The team’s behavior has changed dramatically since Warner and Smith were banned for ball-tampering.
Aggression that was externalized has now turned internal. This is dangerous. We saw the internal aggression of this Australian team in the Ashes series against England. We saw it against South Africa. India is different. Because India is the only team after South Africa to win two Test series on Australian soil. Australia comes here as a vengeful introverted tiger with the unhealed scar of these defeats.
This is where the challenge awaits Rohit Sharma. And injury or otherwise, Rohit Sharma has missed 8 of India’s last 10 Tests, so he is still an immature ‘green’ when it comes to Test captaincy. Kohli – Ravi Shastri’s first Test series kick-off in South Africa Indian team got a big kick against England in Birmingham.
In the news that they are training someone like him to play Ashwin, our media is proudly writing as if the Australia team is afraid of Ashwin. But why does Muralitharan aka Nathan Lion not open his mouth about the next world spinner after Shane Warne? Why doesn’t the same media write about Nathan Lyon’s delivery as a dominant batsman in this Indian team. Rishabh Pant is the only one, he is not. Next up is Shreyas Iyer who plays the spin well. It is said to be doubtful for the first Test match.
Virat Kohli has been struggling to predict the spin delivery in recent times. Against Bangladesh, he went behind and was dismissed. There are major problems with his predictions. It is the job of the media to hold him high with the hundreds he scored with Kathucutti teams in ODIs. But, in reality, it is his batting click against Australia that has just arrived in the Tests that will bring victory back to the Indian team. Even Rishabh Pant was not there to save him if he was knocked down and thrown away. Also the absence of Bumrah in bowling is a big setback.
Every time the team wins, the teammates talk about the captain’s performance. But we’re seeing that they don’t have any research findings on how they could have done it differently. It has to be said that Rohit Sharma’s Test captaincy has yet to begin.
Compared to the Australian team that came in the 2016-17 series, the current team is a mix of new talent. Pujara’s average in Asia after 2021 is 34, while Virat Kohli’s Test average is 24. Rohit Sharma has not headed the Test side after March 2022 so his performance remains in the dark.
Rohit Sharma has his own batting crisis compounded by the team’s winning crisis as this is a series that will ensure India’s qualification for the final of the ICC World Test Championship above all else. It is not known whether he, normally flexible, can handle the crisis.
Australia on the other hand definitely came with a vengeance. But it is not always evident in their speech. It’s introverted aggression, so it doesn’t know the outside. Nathan Lyon and Cummins won the Test series with the bat in Pakistan. On the contrary, it may be remembered that the Indian team won the 2nd Test match on the spin pitch in Bangladesh after struggling to win the target. So this is the Test series that will decide whether Rohit Sharma’s Test captaincy will be extended or shortened.