First innings runs play a crucial role in Test cricket, whether players use a pink ball or a red ball, and India has frequently fallen short in this area. Adelaide failed to score 200 runs for the fourth time in the previous five Test matches. Adelaide’s 180 came after 150 in Perth against Australia, 156 in Pune against New Zealand, and 46 in Bengaluru against New Zealand. Rohit Sharma provided context for those figures by pointing out that they played all of those games in challenging batting circumstances, even those at home, which he acknowledged was their decision. He looked to his batters to do well at the same time.
Two hours into day three, following India’s ten-wicket loss, he declared, “I think the best way to win a Test match when you come to Australia is by putting runs on the board.”
“In the first inning, we were 30–40 runs short at bat. And it goes without saying that it is never simple and won’t be easy when you miss such opportunities. We also believed that the circumstances were better in the second innings. Once more, our bat skills were lacking.
“We obviously didn’t bat well enough in India. We acknowledge and agree that we are attempting to play under really challenging conditions while we are in India, and that is what we intended. It’s not someone else’s decision. We made the decision and accepted the fact that, as has been the case for the past four or five years, there would not be any high-scoring or high-scoring games.
“However, there are always opportunities to score runs when we go overseas. We have also scored runs. We scored a lot of runs, just as you witnessed in the first game. Batters received hundreds and such.
“I can see that men are working really hard on their goals and aspirations. That has generated a lot of discussion in the group, and that is what I will be investigating. How do we prepare, how do we communicate with ourselves, and what attitude do we have while playing a test match?”
In his last six Test matches, Rohit has averaged 11.83. In his last seven games, Virat Kohli has averaged 26.25. When the ball outplays the bat, what steps does a player take to win? Brisbane, which is typically fast and bouncy, will host the following Test. With the Border-Gavaskar Trophy currently knotted at 1-1, things won’t get any easier for the tourists.
“Whatever challenges are there and the conditions are tough, we want to battle it out, stay out there and grind it out,” Rohit said. “KL [Rahul] and [Yashasvi] Jaiswal did that to secure that 200 partnership [in Perth].” Simply attempting and hitting the bat wasn’t enough. In particular, KL played about 200 [176] balls to reach his 70 [77]. Additionally, Jaiswal, who is aware of his aggressive batting style, hit 300 [297] balls to score those 150 [161] runs.
“That shows what we did in Pert – we just left the baggage of the first innings there and then we started the second innings really fresh and got those big runs.”
India is also cautious about putting themselves in a position where the effectiveness of their bowling attack is solely dependent on the condition of their bowling spearhead. With 12 strikes at an average of 11.25, Jasprit Bumrah leads the series in wicket-taking, but as Rohit stated, he is unable to bowl from both ends. Harshit Rana and Mohammed Siraj were able to support him in Perth. Rana struggled in Adelaide, giving up 86 runs from 16 overs at an economy rate of 5.37.
When questioned if India should have substituted Akash Deep for Rana, Rohit said that Akash Deep had looked well in the nets before the Adelaide Test. “Rana didn’t do anything wrong in the first Test,” he stated. He made important breakthroughs and bowled effectively. How will the other team members feel safe if it occurs? ‘You offer us one game but take us out of the other’ is what they will think. For any individual or team, this is bad.
“It is not appropriate to criticize a player based just on their performance in a single game; we must first assess the circumstances and the state of affairs before making a decision. Since we need to win a Test match, we are able to play any player. And we will make the necessary adjustments if necessary. However, I didn’t think it made sense to leave him because he hadn’t done anything wrong. In the practice match, he also took three or four wickets and appeared to be in rhythm. Even though he has the heart, he has occasionally faced pressure from hitters. Thus, we must support these players.
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