NEW DELHI: Former batting legend
Sunil Gavaskar
talked about India captain
Rohit Sharma
's mental health as captain before the Test series against South Africa, starting on Tuesday at SuperSport Park in Centurion.
The former batsman said that
Rohit
should think about playing less aggressively during Test matches. It is significant that the Indian skipper performed exceptionally well to ensure that his country would have the finest start to the ODI World Cup in 2023.
"First and foremost, the challenge would be to get your mental state into a test match situation.
He has been batting in the ODI format where he had decided that he was going to be playing the attacking role and try and score as many runs as possible in the first 10 overs of field restrictions,"
Gavaskar
told Star Sports.
"He will have to change the approach completely for Test cricket because he will have to think in terms of batting the whole day. If he bats the whole day, then, clearly with the range of shots that he has got, he will be able to end up with 180 or 190 not out at the end of the day and India will be 300-plus," he added.
According to Gavaskar, the Indian side has more experienced batters than Proteas bowlers now that several key players (including
Virat Kohli
, Rohit Sharma, and
Jasprit Bumrah
) have returned to the field.
"They are experienced batters, who are coming after playing everywhere, so I expect them to score lots of runs in these two Test matches. Not only because they have got so much talent, but this time around, I think the South African attack does not have that edge," Gavaskar told Star Sports.
In addition, Gavaskar mentioned that the hosts might suffer from the absence of key players like
Anrich Nortje
and the possible absence of
Kagiso Rabada
.
"With the absence of Nortje, with the likely absence of Rabada and
Lungi Ngidi
, the South African attack looks a little bit short on experience, I am not saying short of class. So I feel these two batters will score lots of runs and help the Indian team post a big score," Gavaskar added.
(With IANS inputs)
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