Australia vs India: Ian Chappell bats for Rohit Sharma to come good in the Tests

Former Australian captain Ian Chappell does not want to term India favourites, but he clearly feels his home side should not be under-estimated. The Aussie Test contingent has failed miserably to cope with the absence of David Warner and Steve Smith and for the first time in the history, India enter a Test series Down Under as favourites.

Talking about India’s middle order predicaments, he spoke at length on how skipper Virat Kohli can use Rohit Sharma as a potent weapon in the playing XI. Rohit is someone who pulls the ball quite naturally and the legendary Aussie cricketer reckons that will help him tackle the Kangaroo speedsters in a better way.

“The Indian top three should be aware that the Australian pacemen will be seeking early scalps in order to get the redoubtable Virat Kohli in while the ball is still shiny. This leads to a selection conundrum.

Do India bat the dogged Cheteshwar Pujara at three and hope he’ll wear the quickies down or do they gamble on Rohit Sharma who is technically well-equipped to tackle the short-pitched stuff aggressively? Kohli showed on the last tour of Australia that he’s extremely adept at dealing with short-pitched deliveries but it would be of great benefit to provide him with an ally in this confrontation,” he wrote in his column for Hindustan Times.

Australia should not be under-estimated

With the batting unit looking utterly pale and lacklustre, the onus falls heavily on Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins to chip in with the impact performances. This pace trio as it stands is the biggest hope for the hosts and given they fire, India will once again travel home with disappointment.

“Australia should not be underestimated; they have a top-class attack, headed by three excellent fast bowlers in Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Patrick Cummins. As a result of three suspensions Australia will field a depleted batting line-up, which means their bowlers will be even more determined to limit the opposition’s scoring,” Chappell opined.

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