The Indian skipper Rohit Sharma showed his humorous self in the post-match press conference while speaking about rotating his three spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel in the opening game of the 4-match Test series against Australia at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur. On Saturday, January 11, India annihilated Australia by innings and 132 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were in the thick of things after they picked up a five-wicket haul apiece to break the backbone of the Australian batting unit. Rohit, who became the first Indian skipper to score hundreds in all three formats, jokingly said how both Ashwin and Jadeja wanted to bowl to reach their respective milestones.
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During a chat with the broadcasters after the game, Rohit Sharma said, “It’s really tough (juggling Ashwin, Jadeja and Axar). They are reaching their milestones. Ravindra Jadeja was telling me that he is on 249 wickets. He is telling me ‘mereko ball dedo’. Ashwin was on 4 wickets, he was closer to a 5-wicket haul. He was saying, ‘I want to bowl yaar’. That’s the challenge I am facing at the moment with these guys.”
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He further added, “I really don’t know too much about the milestones. But these guys are quite aware of it. That’s the challenge of captaining them, rather than giving them which end or not. All these 3 guys are quality bowlers. Whichever end is more helpful, all the spinners want to bowl from that end. That’s obvious. But the pressure is on me, to find the right end for the right one.”
Rohit Sharma, who played a match-winning knock of 120 in the first innings and helped India take a 223-run lead, talked about match-ups and how he used his spin resources to good effect.
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Talking about the same, Rohit Sharma said, “It’s a challenge, but I try a little bit of match-ups as well. Ash has a good match-up against left-handers. Not that he can’t get right-handers out, but he has got a great record against left-handers. Ravindra Jadeja and Axar have unbelievable match-ups against right-handers. I try to rotate 3 of them.”
Jadeja won the Player of the Match award after he picked up seven wickets in the match and also played a crucial knock of 70 runs in India’s first innings. The second Test is scheduled to start on February 17 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. India has never lost a home Test series to the Aussies since 2004.
