Back to Test squad almost after a year, Rohit Sharma looks forward to Australia series

Not long ago, Rohit Sharma was being seen as a permanent discard in Test cricket. Ever since his failure in South Africa earlier this year, the 31-year-old batsman was not considered for any squad in the longer format – be it international or domestic. But the dashing batsman kept on making his bat talk with authority in the limited-over versions, making it impossible for the selectors to ignore him for red-ball cricket.

As a result, Rohit is back into the Indian squad for the four-Test series against Australia, starting December 6. Besides scoring runs in the limited-overs formats regularly, Rohit has also dazzled as the captain of the Indian side in the absence of Virat Kohli. After winning a couple of multilateral tournaments including the Asia Cup, Rohit led India to thump the Windies 3-0 in the T20I series, a feat he has achieved for the second time as the skipper.

Rohit will have the Test series in Australia behind his head particularly since he is yet to realise his potential as the batsman in this format. He had made a memorable debut in Tests by hitting hundreds in his first two Tests in 2013 against the Windies but could not maintain the momentum thereafter.

He has scored only one more hundred in the next 23 Tests and averages below 40. He was ignored for the Tests against Afghanistan, England and Windies and will return in whites, provided he is picked in the eleven for the Australia Tests, almost after a year.

‘Staying in present works for me’

“We have the T20Is and practice games before the first Test match. I am not thinking about the Test match. All I am thinking of is going back, taking a few days off, and take the flight to Australia. We will have enough time to think about the Test match after that. If I try and stay in present, it works for me. Test matches are something I was looking forward to for a long time. It will be nice to go out there and play a Test match for India,” Rohit said in the post-match press conference on Sunday.

The batsman will fly to New Zealand next to play in the first four-day game for India ‘A’ as a preparation for the Australia Tests. Rohit has played three Tests in Australia during the 2014-15 season and scored 173 runs with just one fifty in Sydney.

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