Melbourne [Australia], December 30 : After the completion of the boxing-day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) between Australia and India, former head coach Ravi Shastri shared his thoughts on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's performance in the ongoing series.
Rohit has been struggling for form, and did all the hard work during the fifth day but eventually returned to the dressing room with nothing to show. Instead of going all guns blazing, Rohit adopted a defensive stance and mustered up nine runs after facing 40 deliveries. After effectively dealing with the pace threat, he decided to take on his counterpart Pat Cummins. His attempt to flick the ball away resulted in a thick outside edge, which carried to Mitchell Marsh at gully. With his head and shoulders slumped, Rohit returned to the dugout and left the floodgates open.
After Rohit's dismissal, everything fell apart for the Indian team. KL Rahul joined the Indian skipper in the same over for a five-ball duck. Virat Kohli lost his discipline and got lured into playing a drive on the ball by left-armer Mitchell Starc on the final ball before lunch. Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant offered stability and assurance by leading the charge against the Australian bowling attack.
"Virat batted well in the first innings. He'll be disappointed in the way he's getting out because there's a similarity with the driving outside the off-stump. He could leave those deliveries. As far as Rohit Sharma goes, at times we've seen in the series that his front foot isn't really moving towards the ball as much as it should. There's a trigger movement, and then after that, the leg stays planted. Mitchell Starc set Virat Kohli up beautifully. An over before that, there were some good leaves from Virat, but they were challenging the off stump. And here, he floated one outside, tempting Virat--should I leave it, should I play--last over before lunch. Virat would have been very disappointed," Ravi Shastri said on Star Sports.
Except for an unbeaten 100 in the first Test at Perth, the Aussies have managed to keep Virat quiet as he has managed just 26 runs in his other four innings, including three single-digit scores.
In nine Tests this year, he has scored 376 runs at an average of 25.06, with just a century and fifty to his name in 17 innings. His best score is 100*.
In the ongoing ICC World Test Championship cycle (2023-25), Virat has scored 687 runs at an average of 36.15 in 12 matches and 21 innings, with two centuries and three fifties and the best score of 121.
On the other hand, Rohit's return has been marked by his lack of form and struggle to put runs across his name. The seasoned opener has just 31 runs from five innings, with an average of 6.20.
Rohit has faced criticism over his Test batting since the Bangladesh series. He amassed only 42 runs in two Test matches while averaging just 10.50.