Rohit Sharma (Photo Source – Twitter/BCCI)
Rohit Sharma is all set to show his selfless side as he is preparing to reprise his role as a middle-order batter for India during the second Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval, starting on Friday, December 6. The pink-ball encounter will see the Indian captain relinquishing his opening spot as Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul will continue at the top of the order for the Asian giants.
Yashasvi and Rahul stitched a match-winning 201-run opening partnership in the first Test between India and Australia in Perth. Rohit missed this encounter as he stayed back in India with his wife as they were blessed with their second child. Fans were wondering whether Rohit would return to the middle order, especially after he had batted at No. 4 in the warm-up game against the Prime Minister’s XI last week.
In the pre-match press conference, Rohit left no scope for speculations as he confirmed that Rahul will continue at the top with Yashasvi and he will bat “somewhere in the middle” in the highly-anticipated Adelaide Test.
“How I came to the decision of batting down the order is clearly we want results, we want success, and those two guys at the top… just looking at this one Test match, they batted brilliantly. I was at home with my newborn in my arms, and I was watching how KL batted. It was brilliant to watch. I felt that there’s no need to change that now. Maybe in the future, things will be different. I don’t know,” the 37-year-old said.
“So, based on what has happened and what KL Rahul has shown outside of India, he probably deserves that place at this point in time. It is something that has brought us success in the first Test. You have that one big partnership with Jaiswal on the other side, and you know, it probably won us the Test match. When you come here, in a place like Perth, and you get 500 runs or so, it’s such a massive tick in the box. I don’t see why we need to change that. What I saw from the outside looked brilliant, and there was no need to change anything,” he added.
Rohit said that the decision to give up his opening spot was not easy for him to take on a personal front. However, it became straightforward for him when he prioritized the team’s interest ahead of anything else.
“It was pretty simple for me. Personally, not easy. But for the team, it made a lot of sense,” the legendary batter stated.
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