India loses fourth Test
Fifth Test at Sydney
Do-or-Die game
After Monday’s avertible loss in Melbourne, India have little time for reflection. Going into the Sydney Test in three days time, the manner of their collapse in the last session is unlikely to leave the team in a happy space.
If India are to retain the Border-Gavaslar Trophy, the fifth Test is now a do-or-die game. For that to come to pass, some difficult decisions may need to be taken, starting with the captain.
As for his own lack of runs, Rohit was candid, terming it “disturbing”.
Rohit went on to mention that he stands where he is standing today. A lot of the things he is trying to do are not falling in place.
He feels mentally, it is disturbing. If you come here and try and do successfully what you’re supposed to, and if those things don’t fall in place, that is a big disappointment,” he said, admitting that there are things as a team need to look at playing he personally need to look at as well.
We’ll they need to try and see what happens. There’s still a game to go. If they can play well, it’d be nice to make it 2-2.”
India’s team selection till now has largely been based on covering up for top-order failures in some tough batting conditions. It may be time to shed the negative baggage and stop packing the side with allrounders whose bowling arms are rarely used, increasing the workload on pace spearhead Bumrah.
Rohit further stated that Bumrah has bowled a lot of overs. If somebody is in such great form, you want to try and maximize that form. But there comes a time when you need to step back. He has been very careful with Bumrah. “Akash and Siraj are the (other) frontline seamers. It’s just that they’ve been unfortunate to not be on the wickets column.
Siraj, especially, is bowling his heart out.He doesn’t think there’s anything else he can do. Obviously, there are technical aspects of his game he’s looking into.”
The likes of Australia’s Mark Waugh have suggested that Rohit’s bad patch has also started affecting his captaincy. Rohit went on to add that few results have not gone their way and as a captain, that’s disappointing. They need to look at those things, try and see what they can correct, what they didn’t do well as players and as a team.
He rued that the pain of losing a Test match is more (than batters not scoring runs). The batters, they sometimes perform, they sometimes don’t. It is much more painful if you don’t get the desired results. When you have the opportunity to grab hold of a game, you should. They had the chance at MCG.
Right now, Rohit is having to grapple with career-defining issues. Hopefully, India’s captain will find more luck in Sydney than he did here at the MCG.
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News Edit KV Raman
