Rahul Dravid says Rohit Sharma is “the kind of person who doesn’t speak a lot, but when he does they all listen.” And that worked in the Delhi Test when the captain’s words calmed down his three spinners who were under a bit of pressure on the second day when Travis Head went on an aggressive mode.
With his attacking 39 not out, Head, opening the innings for the first time in the absence of injured David Warner, surprised the hosts and took Australia to 61/1 at close of play on Day II of the second Test.
Rohit sensed panic, prompting him to speak to his seasoned spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel before the start of play on Sunday morning.
That did the trick as the feared combination of Ashwin and Jadeja shared 10 wickets between them to ensure a six-wicket win for India. Australia’s mindless aggression backfired on a low and slow Kotla track as the hosts retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
“Sometimes you got to keep it simple and not complicate too much. Yesterday (Saturday), they were scoring at more than five runs per over. I could see we were panicking a little and we were trying to change fields way too many times.
“In the morning, I just wanted to tell those three guys (spinners) to keep it calm. We didn’t need to change field as often as we did last evening. We keep it there, we keep it tight, and let batters make the mistake.
“I could sense it they (Aussies) wanted to play that way (aggressive) and that wicket was not where you could come out and just keep playing the shots,” said Rohit in the postmatch media interaction.
“You got to find balance and try and put them under pressure. If they are playing some shots, we are not going to change our plans as a bowling unit. Axar, Jaddu and Ash have played a lot of cricket in these conditions. You have got to trust them when things are not going your way.
“Those are quality batters as well (Australian batters), they are one of the top teams in the world and there will be times we will be put under pressure. It was about keeping it there and let the pitch do the rest.”
Written with inputs from PTI
Anderson rips through NZ tail
Mount Maunganui: England’s ‘Bazball’ revolution continued apace on Sunday when the tourists wrapped up a 267-run victory over New Zealand in the first Test on Sunday with the best part of two days to spare at Bay Oval.
It was a first Test victory for England in New Zealand since 2008 and a 10th win in 11 matches since former Black Caps skipper Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum and Christchurch born Ben Stokes took over as coach and captain.
After Stuart Broad’s brilliant spell on Saturday, his strike partner James Anderson (4/18) stepped up to lead the mopping up of the New Zealand tail on Sunday.
Reuters
