Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has opened up on skipper Rohit Sharma’s poor form with the bat ahead of the second Test in Adelaide on Tuesday, December 3. Manjrekar added that Rohit is a backfoot player with the ability to play the ball late but he was doing the exact opposite during the three-match Test series against New Zealand. He further credited Rohit for working on his front foot in the nets ahead of the pink-ball Test as well.

Sanjay Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo: “The one thing that I saw during the New Zealand series was that he, like Virat Kohli, was only looking to get out on the front foot but not big a step. And when it comes to places like Australia and South Africa, that starts getting you into troubles. So, he’s not a big front-foot stride player but he wasn’t going on the backfoot at all or playing late but I just saw that he was little slipping where he was practicing in the nets and you got the impression that he was telling himself to get the front foot forward if he is going to keep playing forward or just play close to the ball.”

“I think that is what he needs to do and watch out for that pull shot that has got him in trouble. It’s an instinctive shot that he plays short of a length and it will bounce a little more than the kind of instinct that he has playing a pull shot, having batted mostly in the subcontinent,” he further added.

Former Australia batter Michael Hussey, however, backed Rohit Sharma to deliver in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

He said (via NDTV): “They (Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli) have got a lot of crowd pullers and quality. The silliest thing you can do is to write off champion players. We have seen it so many times in the past – they come under criticism, but they come out and perform really well. So I’m backing them to perform well in Australia. They are proud Indians and proud Test players. But I still feel Australia will start favourites.”