Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has said that Rohit Sharma could open for India, as suggested by the legends – Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri, in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 third Test as well. However, Chopra also feels Team India can’t keep changing their batting order based on earlier games’ performances. However, the third Test of the five-match Test series between India and Australia will start
in Brisbane on Saturday, December 14.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra’, he said, “The question is – where will Rohit Sharma bat? I was listening to Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri. They said he should open as the experiment (KL Rahul opening) was just for one match, and since it worked in one match, you followed it in the second match, but now that experiment is over.”
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“It’s possible. He is the captain. He has been your most successful opener since he started opening. Then he can be an opener. There is no doubt about that. However, if he was going to play as an opener only, he could have done that in the pink-ball Test too. There is no hard and fast rule that you should do things according to what happened in the last match because if you do that, changes will start happening after every match – you do the same thing if it worked in one match, and then reverse it in the third match if it didn’t work in the second. It cannot happen like that,” Chopra further added.
In the same video, Aakash Chopra also stated that Rohit Sharma should continue to bat in the middle order in Brisbane as well.
“I feel he should remain where he is. He should bat in the middle order. He and Rishabh Pant can decide No. 5 or No. 6 between them based on the situation. I am not seeing him playing as an opener, to be very honest. However, since Rahul has to be replaced, and Rahul is generally replaceable in terms of the batting order, etc., Rohit Sharma might ask him to bat at No. 6 and open himself. It can happen but if you see Rohit’s numbers in his last 12 innings, where he has scored just one half-century and struggled slightly against seam and swing in India, it is not hinting in the right direction that he should open,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
