(MENAFN- IANS) New Delhi, Jan 1 (IANS) Former Australia captain Michael Clarke believes Rohit Sharma has earned the right to decide on his future in the Test team, citing that one gets a little bit more leeway when the person is the skipper of the team. Rohit has made just 31 runs in three Tests of the ongoing tour of Australia, which has meant his average as India's captain is at 30.58, as compared to an average of 46.87 in the longer format before taking up captaincy.
“Those numbers are interesting. I think you see that with the number of players. For some people the captaincy helps, for some people, it doesn't. I certainly think he'll play in Sydney. I don't think they'll drop him. I think Rohit's earned the right, and he's captain. When you're captain, you probably get a little bit more leeway as well.”
“Those numbers don't read great. Don't get me wrong. But I think they'll allow Rohit to walk away on his own terms. No idea if Sydney will be his last Test. I'm not sure what he's thinking, as I'm not sure what India's got coming up, Test cricket-wise.”
“I'm not sure how Rohit feels captaincy-wise. I know he's just had his second child. So who knows what's going to happen there? But I would imagine he'll certainly play in Sydney,” said Clarke on ESPN's Around The Wicket show.
Ex-Australia batter Callum Ferguson pointed out that India have a five-match tour of England coming up in June-July this year.“Huge test coming up in England. They're going to England to play a Test series there as well. So that's going to be a huge test for someone like Rohit Sharma, who's struggling with his form at the moment.”
Aron Finch, Australia's former white-ball skipper, said India have looked like a different outfit ever since Rohit came back from the Adelaide Test after missing the series opener in Perth due to the birth of his second child.“He'll definitely play. I think the alarming thing for me is how well they played under Bumrah's captaincy in Perth. It looks like an unsettled lineup since he's come back in. But I mean, he's still a great player. He's a beautiful player to watch. I hope that he does get some runs,” he said.
Clarke also feels Rishabh Pant will have huge regret over the second innings mistimed pull he played off Travis Head in the second innings. After Pant fell, India collapsed and were all out for 155, to lose the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne to Australia by 184 runs.
“I think his shot in the second innings was one that he'd probably regret even more. I think the situation of the game, they were building a partnership and batting so well together. That really was stopping Australia from winning the Test match. It's muscle memory, he just reacted. He saw it short, tried to hit it out of the park.”
“But he probably should have just tried to hit it along the ground. But again, that's the way the game goes, and when you're a big player and someone that has scored Test match hundreds and there's an expectation, if you're getting out like that, you're going to cop criticism. But there's no doubt he's a wonderful player. It's a shot selection. It's the right time, right place, that's all,” he added.
Ferguson said Pant's mistimed pull was a result of confusion caused by playing in a restrained mode, something which isn't his natural style of play.“That was the concern, I thought. He was playing a mode that wasn't natural to him, and it was a shot that had hesitation in it, that pull shot off Travis Head.”
“So that's what happens. That's what comes into four-day and five-day cricket. In Test cricket, there's enormous pressure, and when you find yourself in those pressure situations, that's when you get that hesitation. Do I go? Do I just keep playing my natural game? Or do I need to shut it down? And that's where he found himself in confusion.”
Finch signed off by saying the stadium dimensions also were different in Melbourne, which meant Pant was caught in the deep.“The MCG is also a bit bigger than Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi as well. That goes 20 rows back at the Kotla in Delhi.”
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