Melbourne, Dec 30 (PTI) India skipper Rohit Sharma looked shattered as he confessed to being “disturbed” after the heavy loss to Australia in the fourth Test here, saying there are “things” that he needs to address at a personal level apart from the team’s collective problems amid intense focus on his form.
With 31 runs in six innings across three Tests, the Indian skipper’s tally is just one more than Jasprit Bumrah’s series wicket-haul of 30. The clamour for Test retirement have reached a crescendo and Sydney could be his final port of call in whites but he doesn’t want to go out without a fight.
Where does he stand as a batter and as a captain? What is his frame of mind? The questions are many but the answers are not so simple.
“I stand where I am standing today. There is nothing to think about what has happened in the past. Obviously, few results have not gone our way. As a captain, yes, that is disappointing,” he tried to conceal his disappointment after the 184-run defeat but then revealed what has become obvious. He is not in a happy place.
“You know, a lot of the things that I am trying to do is not falling in the place that I would want to. But mentally, look, you know, it is disturbing without a doubt. If you have come here and try and do successfully what you’re supposed to and if those things don’t fall in place, that is a big disappointment. But as of now, that is where it is,” Rohit explained.
But then he said something that might make a lot of people ponder as to what he might be up to going forward.
“And there are things that we as a team need to look at. I personally need to look at as well. So, we will try and see what happens. You know, there is still a game to go. If we can play that game well, you know, with 2-2, it is a draw. It will be really nice,” he said.
With December 31 being a travel day, the turnaround time of two days isn’t enough to ensure that all things wrong can be rectified.
“Yes, there’s not enough time,” he agreed, adding, “But we just want to not give it up and make sure that when we turn up at Sydney we try and do everything possible to try and move that momentum towards us again. We have seen it over the years coming here and playing is not easy.
“…Sydney again, we have an opportunity to come out there and do what we can as a team and make sure we try and play that game well,” the skipper seemed to be hoping.
His pace spearhead Bumrah has bowled more than 140 overs (141.2 overs) across four Tests for his 30 scalps and the captain had to agree that he is bowling a lot more than he ideally should.
“To be honest, he’s bowled a lot of overs. There’s no doubt about it. But again, every Test match we play, we keep that in mind, you know, the workloads of all the bowlers.
“But again, like, if somebody is in such a great form, you want to try and maximize that form how much ever you can and that is what we’ve been trying to do with Bumrah.” He agreed that one needs to be careful with Bumrah, who is susceptible to breakdowns.
“…there comes a time where you need to step back a little bit and give him that little bit of extra breather as well. So we’ve been very careful, I’ve been very careful. I talk to him about how he feels and stuff like that,” he assured.
He was all praise for Nitish Kumar Reddy, who scored a hundred in the first innings. He felt he had them makings of a great.
“When we saw him for the first time, we found out that there is a lot of potential which is why he came here in the first place and shown what he is capable of. With the bat he was brilliant,” the skipper said.
“Indian cricket is rich with talent and hence it will be too premature to say where he will end but the potential to become one of India’s greatest cricketers is there. He is a very strong character, he wants to fight it out there,” he added. PTI KHS PM PM PM
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