Always felt that Rohit Sharma had the X-factor to open innings in Tests, says Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri said that he has always felt that Rohit Sharma had the X-factor to open the innings in Test cricket and prove to be a match-winner, just like his white-ball exploits. Shastri also spoke about team selections and the need to be extra patient with a special talent like Rishabh Pant.
Team India emerge from the drawn T20I series against South Africa as a side clearly in its early stages of launching a bid for next year’s World Cup in Australia. However, now the time has come for the Men in Blue to shift the attention back to the ICC World Test Championship – dubbed as the ‘biggest World Cup in 40 years’ by India’s head coach Shastri. For the three-match Test series starting on October 2, the home side will feature a new opening batsman in the form of Rohit.
“I told Rohit, way back in 2015-16, to start opening for Mumbai. Always felt he had the X-factor. But it is always difficult, not easy for a No. 5 or 6 to do it. But it is just a mind thing, if he gets over it, he is going to be a match-winner there as well, and we are going to give him time. We are not going to push him. The main reason why I told him in 2015 because I was speaking from my experience,” Shastri told Hindustan Times in an exclusive interview.
Shastri’s second major concern lies with the persistence with the man behind the stumps, Pant. And in the lead up to the visit from South Africa, the messages coming from the Indian camp seemed to suggest that the clock was ticking towards its end times for the 21-year-old. But hey, there is good news!
“Pant is different, he is world-class and is a brutal match-winner. Very few around in the world game. So the patience we will have with him is a lot. And he is only going to learn. This team management will back him to the hilt,” Shastri said.
“I spoke about ‘the rap on the knuckles’. If someone goofs up, I have to pull them up. Am I there only to play tabla? But this guy is world-class, this guy can be destructive, can be a destroyer. And we will give him all the support that he needs to prosper in international cricket,” he continued.
The third patch of the problem – perhaps the most serious of all three – surfaced when news broke that India’s No.1 fast bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, has suffered an injury to the lower back. However, Shastri feels that the Indian fast-bowling fraternity is deep enough to handle the loss of their star man.
“He is world-class, as everyone knows. It is about player management, there are three formats that are being played; he is one guy who can play all three, so leading up to the next cycle you got to see where his value is at its maximum and what you got to do and try and protect the player, you have to do that. All our fast bowlers, what they did last year in breaking the record, they are all special. There is Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma. How you look after each one of them is very important. Then we have Umesh Yadav, and Navdeep Saini is in line for Tests,” Shastri added.
The first of the three Tests against the Proteas will begin on October 2 at Visakhapatnam.
