Indian skipper Rohit Sharma has been facing a challenging time with the bat in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. After missing the first Test match due to the birth of his child, Sharma returned to the squad only to struggle in the subsequent games, failing to make a significant impact with the bat. In Rohit's absence, KL Rahul had opened the batting for India in the first Test and he did well.
Following their impressive performance, India continued with the same opening pair and Rohit Sharma batted in the lower-middle order. Rohit Sharma, making his return to the Indian squad, has not been up to his usual standards in the second and third Tests. In both second and third Tests, Rohit Sharma was dismissed cheaply.
In both games, he has found himself in difficult situations, unable to convert starts into big scores. That fluency and timing has not been seen in Sharma’s batting. Amidst Sharma's struggle, former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri has said that Rohit should go into the Boxing Day Test with an attacking and positive intent.
"I would like to see Rohit Sharma, his tactics change a bit because he can still be extremely dangerous at that number (six). I think he's got to be very clear in his mindset to go out there and take the attack to the opposition and not worry about anything else.
"The last thing you want is him to be in two minds whether to defend or attack. In his case, it should be attack. He picks up length quickly, he should take the opposition on at that number. Because if he gets away in the first 10-15 minutes, in any way, he's not got past that 15-20 minutes, half an hour. So why don't you play a natural game, go and take the attack to the opposition and take it from there?" Ravi Shastri opined on the ICC Review.
"Because I think that is his best way of not just coming back into form, winning a game for India as well. Because that number is a crucial number," he said.