Rohit Sharma is likely to team Mayank Agarwal at the top of the order if cleared to fly for Tests in Australia, but he’s not overly concerned about his batting position.
“I’ll tell you the same thing I’ve said to everyone all this time. I’ll be happy to hit where the team wants, but I don’t know if they would change my role as a starter,” Sharma told PTI. .
Having started his career in the middle order, Sharma transitioned to becoming a test starter during India’s home series against South Africa last year and found immediate success. He topped the series charts with 529 runs in four innings, including three centuries.
The combined tally of 525 runs between Sharma and Agarwal in the two innings of the first round at Vizag is a national record, beating the 414 of Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan. Along the way, Sharma also became the first Indian to score two centuries in his first tryout as a starter, having scored 176 and 127.
After that, he started just twice in the subsequent series against Bangladesh before injury excluded him from India’s most recent Test series in New Zealand, which they lost 2-0 in February.
“I’m sure the guys already in Australia must have figured out what the options are when Virat [Kohli] is leaving and who are the guys that will open the entrances, “he said.” Once you get there, you probably have a better idea of what is going to happen. I’ll be fine to hit where they want. “
Sharma was not included in the original test team for Australia due to a hamstring injury he sustained during the recent IPL in the United Arab Emirates, which forced him to miss four games for the Mumbai Indians. However, he was added to the test team once it became known that his injury was not that serious. He is currently at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for rehabilitation. On Saturday, he said that “the hamstring feels absolutely fine, the process of getting it good and strong just started.”
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Sharma had appeared in only two of the four Trials on the previous tour from India to Australia in 2018-19, scoring higher than 63, with India not seeking a statement in the early innings of the third Trial in Melbourne. But having been on every Australian tour since 2008, where he first burst onto the ODI scene with a match-winning partnership with Sachin Tendulkar in the first of the tri-series finals in Sydney, he felt the surfaces they are much more batted. friendly now.
“We talk about the rebound, but except for Perth, in the last few years, the other fields (Adelaide, MCG, SCG), I don’t think they have that much rebound,” he said. “Today, especially when opening the batting, I will have to think about not playing the cut or throwing shots and concentrate on playing on the ‘V’ and as straight as possible.”
Among the best pull shot players today, Sharma isn’t too disturbed by talks about having to deal with the short stuff of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins’ Australia paced attack.
“We talked about bouncing off Australian slopes. But tell me, how many people went out with gorillas during the last series?” I ask. “When we played in Perth in 2018-19, it was Nathan Lyon who got eight wickets, including one out of five. In Australia, half the work is done if you can start right from the beginning.
“With a new ball, whoever is bowling, be it Starc, Cummins or Hazlewood, will obviously throw it up, swing the ball, and the goalie will be used sparingly. In the air or off the court. With the new ball, everyone in the world loves to pitch and send a strange goalie here and there. So most deliveries will be up and to the bat and not short. “
Sharma admits that playing red ball cricket after more than a year would be challenging, but the key is not to think too much ahead.
“It’s going to be a challenge. In general, international cricket is never easy, whatever the format,” he said. “When you had such a long break [from international cricket], it becomes even more difficult. So I would focus on the basics of red ball cricket and then you can fill in with other things. This is how I would like to take it forward. You can’t just jump the gun and think too much ahead. “
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