BGT 2024: WATCH - Rohit Sharma confirms KL Rahul will open for India in 2nd Test; opens up on his batting position

Rohit didn't feature in the BGT opener due to the birth of his second child.

By Salman Anjum - 05 Dec, 2024

On the eve of the pink-ball Test against Australia in Adelaide, India skipper Rohit Sharma attended a press conference, where has addressed concerns surrounding his batting position.

Notably, Rohit missed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener in Perth due to paternity leave. In his absence, Jasprit Bumrah led the visiting team while KL Rahul opened the innings along with Yashasvi Jaiswal.

The pair of Rahul and Jaiswal stitched a double-century stand as openers in Perth’s second innings to set up India’s 295-run victory, making a strong case to retain their partnership.

While it might be a temporary measure, Rohit on Thursday (December 5) confirmed that he will be moving down the order for the Day-Night Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval.

"How I came to that decision of batting down the order is because we want results, we want success," Rohit told reporters. "And those two guys at the top - just looking at this one Test match - they batted brilliantly. I was at home with my newborn in my arms and I was watching how KL batted. It was brilliant to watch, to be honest.

"And I felt that there's no need to change that now. Maybe in the future things will be different, I don't know. So based on what has happened and what KL has shown outside of India, he probably deserves that place at this point.

"It is something that has given us success in the first Test. To have that big partnership with Jaiswal on the other side probably won us the Test."

During the Perth Test, Rahul scored 26 and 77 across the two innings whereas Jaiswal slammed a hundred (161) in the second dig after bagging a duck in the first essay.

Rahul and Jaiswal also looked good in the warm-up fixture against Australian PM’s XI, which was curtailed to a 46-over per side contest due to rain, returning with scores of 27 (retired hurt) and 45 respectively.

"When you come to a place like Perth and you get 500-odd runs, it's a massive tick in the box. What I saw from the outside looked brilliant and there was no need to change anything," Rohit stated.

"It was actually pretty simple for me. Personally, not easy, but for the team, it made a lot of sense," he further remarked.

The Indian captain also explained how young batters like Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant have been able to find success overseas very early in their careers.

"The youngsters nowadays are fearless. They don't carry any baggage. Jaiswal, Gill, Pant - these are the cricketers of a different generation," Rohit said. "When we had come to Australia for the first time, the only thing in our minds used to be how to score runs. We would put extra pressure on ourselves. But every generation is different. Today's players are bold and fearless, and perhaps this is working in their favour.

"Whenever I talk to them, they have only one thing in their mind: how to win the match. They don't think of how I would score a hundred or a double-hundred. When you start thinking like that, the individual performances take care of themselves. Because if you have to win, you will have to perform - and that happens automatically. If your primary focus is how to win matches, series, tournaments, then the big runs these guys make that is secondary.

"If they are not able to contribute with the bat, they think what they can do in fielding, or bowling. So the guys these days think like this, which is a very, very good thing. I don't know if someone talks to them about it, tells them. But this is their natural mindset when they come for a tour - their mindset is how to win the match."

(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)

By Salman Anjum - 05 Dec, 2024

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