After suffering a humiliating whitewash at home, Team India will now look to redeem itself in Australia against the Aussies in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The five-match away Test series will be a tough one. To achieve a positive result, two veteran players will need to step up: Captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
The year 2024 has not been kind to these two batters in Tests. So far, Virat has averaged 22.72 across 12 innings, while Rohit has averaged 29.40 over 21 innings. Ahead of this epic series, former Team India fielding coach R. Sridhar spoke about these stalwarts and shared his expectations for them in an exclusive chat with RevSportz’s editor-in-chief, Boria Majumdar.
Here are the excerpts:
Q- Virat Kohli, it is his birthday. You have been with that guy. Mentally, I am kind of backing Virat to turn things around, your thoughts.
Sridhar: I am a huge Virat Kohli fan, and I would like to wish him a very, very happy birthday on air. There is only one wish which I have always had for him, and I have told this to him multiple times. Let the child in you always be alive. Keep the child in you alive, Virat Kohli, because that is your strength. And you always see Virat Kohli, the child in him while he is playing sport, because as a child, when he played this sport, he enjoyed it.
So, keep the child in you alive, and there is no better place than Australia for Virat Kohli to come back and make this an absolute fairytale for India, because he loves those conditions. He thrives in those conditions. He loves the fight, and that is Virat Kohli. And India needs him now more than ever, and I think you are going to see the best of Virat Kohli in Australia. I do not think, I am sure you are going to see the best of Virat Kohli in Australia.
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🚨 #RSridhar Exclusive 🚨
“The Kookaburra ball suits Rohit better than Duke and SG, and I think he’ll have a huge impact in Australia,” says former India fielding coach R. Sridhar on @ImRo45 ahead of BGT 2024.
The narratives after the NZ series loss won’t matter going into the… pic.twitter.com/1AyIZ0loK3
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) November 5, 2024
Q- The other person who will have to do the job is Rohit Sharma. Rohit too needs to self-discover. He will have to do that for India to come good in Australia, your thoughts.
Sridhar: One of the best leaders in India, that India has been fortunate to have. You spoke about the England series in 2021. I vividly remember we had a 15 day camp in Durham before the test series and Rohit worked very, very hard on his technique. He worked extremely hard on his top hand, keeping his back close to the body and aligning all his levers towards the incoming ball and hitting it as straight as possible.
I remember him having multiple sessions in a day, trying to work on the technique and having those conversations with then batting coach Vikram Rathour and then Ravi (Shastri) bhai. He was a success in that series and a revelation.
I am sure he has got time now. He is going to spend time reflecting on his Indian summer or whatever you call the last 10 innings. He is going to come up with a plan. He has got enough experience. He has a shrewd cricketing brain. I am sure he will come up with a plan, how to work and how to score runs and just not score runs but how to stay on the pitch for long, how to trust his game a little more for the Australian tour.
So, I am sure he is going to go back to the drawing board work hard on his technique, watch videos, watch videos of his previous performances in Australia or against the new ball. And especially with the Kookaburra ball, it will suit him a lot more than the Dukes or the SG. So, I think Rohit Sharma will have a big impact in Australia.
Also Read: After bitter taste of defeat, Kohli will go back to the drawing board, as in 2014