The trio of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant is aboard “the same boat” when it comes to erratic form in the ongoing Test series against Australia but skipper Rohit Sharma feels none of them should be “overburdened” with suggestions as it would complicate matters. Save Jaiswal’s 161 in the second innings in the opening Test in Perth, white-ball vice-captain Gill and maverick match-winner Pant have endured poor scores in the three Tests so far. Jaiswal’s struggles in the first innings are well-documented while Gill and Pant have been frittering away good starts.
“All these boys like Gill, Jaiswal and Pant are all in the same boat. (They know) what they are capable of doing, we shouldn’t complicate those things,” Rohit was categorical in his assessment ahead of Boxing Day Test here when asked individually about the troika which will form the core of Indian batting in the next decade.
The soon-to-be 23 Jaiswal didn’t have any double-digit score in the first innings of either Perth, Adelaide or Brisbane but the skipper knows the worth of his talent.
“Jaiswal is coming here for the first time. He has already shown what he is capable of. He has got so much talent, when you have a guy like him, you don’t want to tamper too much with his mindset.
“Let him be as free as possible and not over-burden him with too many thoughts regarding his batting. He understands his batting more than any one of us and that’s how he has played his cricket,” the skipper stood firmly behind his young colleague.
Rohit believes that Jaiswal can both attack and defend and he has had conversations with senior players to sort out a few technical issues.
“Their (Australia’s) bowlers are the same. They have four seamers in their squad, one off-spinner…We don’t want to tell him too many things about his own batting and we want him to play the way he plays. If he gets going, he can be very dangerous,” he said.
Ditto for Gill, the skipper doesn’t want to lose sleep over his early dismissal in Brisbane and expressed a lot of faith in the Mohali-man’s quality.
“Talking about Gill, he is quality and we all know that. It’s just about backing that quality and making sure we give clear messaging and like Jaiswal, we don’t want to complicate too many things and he understands his batting really, really well,” Rohit said.
“He knows how to score big runs and he has done that before. Just make sure you get 30s and 40s and make that count. Getting in here is the toughest part.” He also brushed aside suggestions that pressure is rising for Pant to emulate his 2021 series heroics.
“There is no pressure on Pant. Look, he played three Tests here. He was in good form in India, made runs. We shouldn’t sit here on judgement on basis of two or three Test matches. He knows what he needs to do,” the skipper was clear.
While summing up his messaging for the trio, he kept it short.
“They know what’s expected of them and our job is to tell them to work on small things like game awareness. I don’t think that we need to talk more and complicate their thought process.”
For Bumrah, no advice is best advice
While his juniors still need a bit of hand-holding, the team’s numero uno match-winner and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah needs to be left alone as he is always sure about what he is doing.
“The easiest way of handling Bumrah is to not say anything. He knows what he is doing and how he operates. He doesn’t try to complicate things and keeps it nice and simple and believes in his skillset…,” Rohit explained.
“Whether he gets wickets or not, he is very clear in his mind. Conversations I have had with him during games has made me realise the guy knows what he is doing so there is nothing much I can add there,” Rohit concluded.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
