Although Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma did not perform well in the first ODI, former India head coach Ravi Shastri believes the two white-ball immortals should be given more time.
Shastri stated on ‘ICC Review’ that the two would naturally need some time to settle in after being away from competitive cricket following the IPL.
“When you come back from a long layoff, you are obviously going to be rusty. It’s not easy for any overseas team to land in Australia, say, two days prior to a game in Perth and adjust to those conditions straight away, especially when you have that extra bounce, and against quality fast bowlers,” Shastri said.
“But I think only time will tell…I’m in no hurry to judge…it’s about how much you’re enjoying the sport and how much hunger is there and passion is left in you to play the game,” Shastri added.
“So if you tick the boxes in two out of those three, especially the enjoyment part of it, then you can give them both time because they’ve got class, they’ve got experience…I’d rather wait than jump and judge immediately,” said the former India head coach.
Kohli and Rohit, now one-format players, struggled against Australia’s potent pace attack on a fast-paced Perth pitch in their first match for India since March. India also lost by seven wickets due to their collective batting failures, which added to the team’s misery.
Rohit scored just 8 runs while opening the innings and Kohli left the game without troubling the scorers after facing 8 deliveries.
The conditions for the Indian batters in Adelaide, where the second ODI of the three-match series will be played on Thursday, will be far better than those in Perth.
