Captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have had a forgettable home season, which saw India go through an embarrassing first when New Zealand whitewashed their fancied hosts in a three-Test series.
Chasing only 147 to win at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India folded up for 121 runs on Sunday. Before that, India’s batting failures in Bengaluru and Pune gave the Kiwis a series-clinching 2-0 lead.
But a whitewash was still not expected, especially after India pushed themselves into a winning position in Mumbai. However, spinners Ajaz Patel and Glenn Phillips trapped India in their own net on a rank red-soil turner.
India’s batting failure was once again highlighted by the poor run of Rohit and Kohli in the top order on a track where Rishabh Pant (64) showed that runs can be scored.
But both fell cheaply once again in the fourth innings — Rohit for 11 and Kohli for 1.
Talking about the day-three action on his YouTube channel, former Pakistan batsman Basit Ali said Rohit and Kohli find themselves in the same siuation as Babar Azam.
Former Pakistan batsman Babar was dropped from Pakistan’s Test squad after an exteded spell of low scores.
“Babar ke baad, Rohit aur Virat ki bhi wohi situation ho gayi hai, form kharab (after Babar, Rohit and Virat find themselves in the same situation — out of form),” said Basit.
“When Rohit missed two deliveries (on Sunday), struck on the pads and then on the lower abdomen, he stepped out to hit a four. This shows that his feet aren’t moving, form is not good. Then he hit a four off a reverse-sweep,” Basit analysed.
Ironically, Rohit was dismissed by a fast bowler Matt Henry in both the innings of the third Test played on a pitch tailor-made for spinners.
Basit added that both Rohit and Kohli need to play domestic cricket before boarding the flight to Australia for the five Tests of the Border Gavaskar Trophy. However, there is a possibility that Rohit may not be available for the series-opening Test because of personal reasons.
The series begins in Perth on November 22.
“Virat Kohli, out of touch, not in form at all. He needs to play domestic (cricket) before flying to Australia; Rohit also. Test-match pratice can’t be seen (in their batting),” said Basit.
The 53-year-old former Pakistan batsman said BCCI’s diktat of India selection depending on players making themselves available to play domestic cricket should also apply on stalwarts like Kohli and Rohit. Both were exempted from playing the Duleep Trophy before the start of Bangladesh series.
“It was the mandate that you must make yourself available for domestic cricket to be eligible for India selection. Everyone played domestic, all of them performed in patches – Shubman Gill, Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal…but dono (Rohit and Virat) ko free hand diya hua tha, that ‘you can exclude yourself’,” he said.
In 10 innings across five Tests at home this season (two vs Bangladesh and three vs New Zealand), Rohit scored 133 runs at an average of 13.30 with a highest of 52. Kohli, who also played 10 innings, aggregated 192 runs at an average of 21.33 with a highest of 70.
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