How to manage bowlers and their milestones the Rohit Sharma way

India’s spinners were the heroes of India’s innings and 132-run win over Australia in the Nagpur Test, but the man managing them - skipper Rohit Sharma - hardly had it easy.

In the post-match press conference, Rohit Sharma revealed how he juggled his spinners and the one thing that India will not do when it heads to New Delhi for the 2nd Test. | Photo Credit: AFP

Nobody at the press box in Jamtha expected Australia to capitulate within a session. Turns out, neither did Rohit Sharma.

“We were prepared to have a hard day’s bowling... The pitch became slower and there was no bounce. It was a bit of surprise for me,” he said. The India captain looked at ease when he walked into the media room of the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium alongside the BCCI media manager after annihilating the Baggy Green by an innings and 132 runs in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

After taking around two-three questions, Rohit’s press conference mode came back on. His customary demeanour while addressing the media has been that of a chirpy Mumbaikar enjoying a balmy summer evening by the Marine Drive.

He started by joking and giggling about how difficult it is to juggle and assign ends to his three spinners – Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel – when all of them are in fine touch. In the just concluded match, both Jadeja and Ashwin had claimed a fifer.

Nagpur: Indian captain Rohit Sharma with teammate Ravindra Jadeja during the 3rd day of the 1st test cricket match between India and Australia, at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur, Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023. (PTI Photo/Vijay Verma)(PTI02_11_2023_000084A) | Photo Credit: VIJAY VERMA

Rohit said, “It’s a little tough. They are all reaching their milestones. Jadeja is on 249 (Test) wickets. He wanted 250 and he was telling me, ‘ Mere ko ball de. (Give me the ball).’ Ashwin was on four wickets and wanted five. That was the challenge I was facing. I really don’t know too much about milestones but these guys know about it, so, yeah, that’s the challenge of captaining them.” The whole room burst into laughter.

However, later he proceeded to divulge how he actually went about business. “The three guys are quality,  yaar (friend). Whichever end is more helpful, all these spinners want to bowl from that end, but pressure is always on me to find the right end for the right one. I try and play a little bit of match-up game. Ash (Ashwin) has good match-up against left-handers. Not that he can’t get right-handers out. Similarly, Jadeja and Axar have unbelievable match-up against right-handers, so, you know I try and keep those things in mind while rotating them.”

When a travelling journalist asked Rohit whether the host was wary of an Australian comeback, on similar lines of how India itself had bounced back from the Adelaide debacle – the team was bundled out for 36 – to ultimately claim the series 2-1 in the previous edition of the BGT in 2020-21, Rohit remarked, “Good one!” with a sarcastic nod of appreciation before proceeding to say, “Australia have always been a good team. But the good thing about this team is that we don’t care about what happened in the past and we live life in the present. Lots of guys who played in that series are not there for Australia also. Australia loves playing Test cricket and they take pride in representing the country and so we are quite aware of them bouncing back and what they can do as a team.”

Rohit Sharma hailed Ashwin’s experience on Indian tracks and credited it for the success the off-spinner had particularly on day 3. | Photo Credit: KR DEEPAK

So,what did Ashwin (15.5-2-42-3 & 12-3-37-5) do that the Aussies didn’t? Rohit thinks it is more about Ashwin’s experience on home soil than what he came up with during the recently concluded Test. “Ash has played so much cricket in India and is closing in on playing hundred Test matches (he has played 89 now). Not to forget the First Class games as well before he made his debut, so, lot of cricket and overs have gone into skills. Being able to do what he is doing now, to be able to extract something out of pitch, it is not easy. Having that idea on what you need to bowl on certain kind of pitches. He can bowl that carrom ball and top spin and slider. The guy has got everything. He is a very studious guy and likes to understand his game and take it to the next level. That is what he is and if you see him, he is getting better with time,” Rohit said of India’s second-highest wicket-taker in Tests.

The one thing Rohit absolutely wouldn’t like to do would be what the Aussies did in the first game, that is, spend a lot of time analysing how the deck is going to behave or, if one could say, misbehave. “There will be no talk about the pitch. Because we have all grown up playing on pitches like these, so there is absolutely no talk about pitches anymore in the changing room,” he said.

India will travel to New Delhi shortly where it will take on Australia in the second Test of the series at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The match starts on February 17.