"Rohit Should Sacrifice His Spot": Pujara on India’s Future

Cheteshwar Pujara believes that India’s captain, Rohit Sharma should take up a middle-order role in the upcoming Brisbane Test. Speaking ahead of the third Test, set to begin on December 14, Pujara expressed that Rohit might need to adapt his position for the greater good of Indian cricket’s future.

Rohit, who missed the first game of the 2024/25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, struggled throughout the pink-ball Test at Adelaide. He managed only 9 runs in both the innings and was vulnerable to deliveries coming towards his off and middle stumps before he fell to Scott Boland and Pat Cummins.

Cheteshwar Pujara, in an interview with ESPNcricinfo, told Rohit Sharma to work on his technique. He felt that a bigger front-foot stride would be helpful on Australian pitches. Pujara also suggested that Rohit should step down from the opener's role to make room for KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, as nurturing young talent is important for the future of Indian cricket.

“He has not scored a lot of runs against New Zealand and he did not start well in Australia, so there is a bit of pressure on him to perform. But someone like him who knows his game will just have to be more positive and work a bit more on his footwork. If he has a slightly bigger stride, it will help him,” Cheteshwar Pujara shared in a video for ESPNcricinfo while previewing the upcoming Brisbane Test.

“The stump line has been troubling him a lot. He has been getting out bowled and LBW, which is a bit of a concern for him. That's the line he will have to work on in the nets, because in the balls outside off stump, he is looking more comfortable. I think he should continue to bat at No.6. We are looking at India's future, KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal. They batted really well in the 1st Test match, Shubman also is likely to bat at No.3. We should think about the long term and that's why I think that Rohit should continue to bat at No.6,” Pujara added.

KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal were the best performers from the first Test, together scoring 200 runs which helped India to thoroughly thrash Australia in Perth with a record win of 295 runs. However, in the second Test, India failed miserably with a disastrous 10-wicket defeat after they got all batsmen out in both innings.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy third Test will be held at Gabba in Brisbane starting on 14th December at 5:50 AM IST.

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