VVS Laxman Delivers Advice For Rohit Sharma Ahead Of Debut As Test Opener

Rohit Sharma made his international debut over a decade ago and is one of the best batsmen in the world right now. However, he is bound to feel nervous when India take on South Africa in the upcoming Test series. The reason is Rohit Sharma will open the innings in Tests for the very first time in his career.

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Rohit Sharma made his Test debut in 2013 and batted in the middle-order. However, the recent turn of events prompted the team-management to try him as an opener. With KL Rahul out of form and Prithvi Shaw suspended, India needed an option for the opening slot and thus they went for Rohit. The right-handed batsman, who is one of the best limited-overs openers in the world, was struggling to get regular chances in the middle-order as Hanuma Vihari and Ajinkya Rahane were preferred ahead of him.

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And as Rohit Sharma gear up to open in Tests, legendary batman VVS Laxman has given some words of wisdom to him. The former India batsman has asked Rohit Sharma to stick to his natural game in his new role. Laxman was one of the earlier examples in Indian cricket who was asked to open the innings between 1996-98 despite being a specialist middle-order batsman.

“The biggest advantage that Rohit has is his experience, which I didn’t have. I opened in Test cricket only after playing four Test matches. Rohit has played 12 years of international cricket. So he has the maturity and the experience and he is also in good form,” Laxman told former India cricketer Deep Dasgupta, during an interview on latter’s YouTube channel “Deep Point”.

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Laxman further opened up on the mistakes he made while opening the innings, recalling:

“I believe the mistake that I made while opening the innings was to change my mindset, which got me a lot of success as a middle-order batsman, whether it’s batting No 3 or No 4.”

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“I also tried to change my technique. As a middle-order batsman, I was always having a front press (front-foot trigger) and then go towards the ball, whereas talking to seniors and coaches, I went to back and across as I had to face Curtly Ambrose (97-away series), who would generate steep bounce from length. This huge change in approach affected my batting and I hope Rohit shouldn’t do it,” he added.

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Well, Laxman was later demoted to middle-order and he turned out to be one of India’s batting greats. Rohit, meanwhile, was out for a duck while opening the innings for Indian Board President’s XI against South Africa in the warm-up game.