"Rohit Sharma showed everyone how to bat.."- Sunil Gavaskar

As the Indian team gears up to welcome Ben Stokes’ England for a 5-match Test series starting from January 25th, former batting great Sunil Gavaskar believes that home team skipper Rohit Sharma has a massive job to do when it comes to cleverly managing the bowlers to get the best out of them in the 1st home Test series of the year.

Team India will look to keep their dominance intact on home soil against a transformative English side under the head coaching of former Kiwi batter Brendon McCullum. There is a lot of talk going around if England’s Bazball can upset India by handing them their first Test series defeat at home since 2012.

It was against an English contingent under the captaincy of Sir Alastair Cook that India tasted their last Test series defeat in 2012 but they haven’t lost a single red-ball series ever since. England had won the 4-match series by 2-1 and now the onus will be on Rohit Sharma and his entourage to prevent the visitors from doing so yet again.

Ahead of the 1st Test in Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi stadium, cricketer turned commentator Sunil Gavaskar has claimed that the hosts will have to be smart with bowling rotations especially in case England gets off to a good start in a Hyderabad track, which is known for helping batters due to its pace and bounce.

“As captain, Rohit Sharma will need to use his bowlers cleverly. Usually in Hyderabad, there is not enough turn on offer, so if England bats first and make a successful start till lunch, there we’ve to see how he uses his bowlers to judge him.” – Sunil Gavaskar said. 

For a fact, the Indian team is high on momentum following the T20I series 3-0 whitewash of Afghanistan last week. In terms of Tests, Rohit Sharma’s men are coming on the back of a well-deserved 1-1 draw in South Africa where they staged an emphatic comeback in the 2nd Test after losing the 1st one by an innings and 32 runs.

But there is a huge difference in Indian and South African conditions and spinners will have a lot of onus here and that makes Ravichandran Aswhin among all the other spinners the key factor for the hosts.

Sunil Gavaskar Asks Rohit Sharma To Ease The Pressure On Middle-Order Batters

The last time England toured India for a Test series back in 2020/21, Rohit Sharma had played a tremendous knock of 161 in the 2nd Test at Chennai. He was oozing brilliance on a spin-friendly track and had set the benchmark for the batters to follow. His knock had also eased the pressure on batters to follow and Sunil Gavaskar wants him to repeat it this time around.

“Rohit Sharma scored a tremendous century against England in the Chennai Test during the previous home series. He showed how to bat in a spin-friendly pitch. If he bats similarly then Team India will get a good start. It also eases the work for No. 3 and 4 batters.” – Gavaskar concluded.