Melbourne, Dec 24 (IANS) India skipper Rohit Sharma is standing behind his young batters – Rishabh Pant, Shubamn Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal – to perform well in the last two Tests of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia.
Ahead of the fourth Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground starting on Thursday, Rohit defended the young trio to overcome their early struggles in the series and contribute some valuable runs to the scoreboard as the five-match series is tied at 1-1.
Barring opener Jaiswal, wicketkeeper-batter Pant and right-handed Gill are yet to score a half-century in the ongoing series. Jaiswal struck a composed 161 in the second innings of the opening Test in Perth, which India won by 295 runs. However, he only added 32 runs in the following four innings.
On the other hand, Pant has only accumulated 96 runs across three Tests, while Gill, who missed the first Test due to a thumb injury, compiled only 60 runs in four innings.
With the World Test Championship final on the line, Rohit expressed confidence in youngsters’ ability to redeem themselves in Melbourne and Sydney.
“See, as I told you, all these youngsters – Rishabh, Gill, Jaiswal – all these youngsters are in the same boat. We don’t want to complicate what they are doing. They know what they are expected to do,” Rohit said on Tuesday.
“Our job here is to keep talking to them about small, small things like match awareness. I don’t think we need to tell them more and complicate stuff. Rishabh Pant knows what he has to do. He himself has a lot of expectations from him. He is working hard. I hope he clicks in the last two matches,” he added.
Talking about the left-handed opener, who is partnering with KL Rahul at the top, Rohit said the 22-year-old Jaiswal, who is on his first Australia tour, knows about his craft and letting him free is the best way for him.
“Look, Jaiswal, he is coming here for the first time. He has already shown what he is capable of. when you have a guy like that in your team, you don’t want to tamper too much with his mindset. Let him be as free as possible. We try not to overburden him with too many thoughts regarding his batting. He understands his batting more than any one of us. That’s how he has played his cricket, scored all of his runs.
“We want to ensure he goes out there and plays his game freely. He has the ability to play all sorts of games – whether it’s the holding game or dominating the game. It’s just about trying to figure out certain areas of his game. I am sure he is doing that along with the other guys. Guys who have played here before share their knowledge. You don’t want to be telling him too many things about his batting. If he gets going, he can be very, very dangerous,” Rohit said.
“Talking about Gill, he is quality. It’s just about backing that quality and making sure we give clear messaging to him. Like Jaiswal, we don’t want to complicate too many things with him. He understands his batting really well. He knows how to score big runs,” The Indian captain remarked on Gill.
“It’s just about making sure that when you get 30s, 40s, you have to convert that into big runs. Getting in is the toughest part here, so when you get in, you have to try and score big runs,” he added.
–IANS
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