India lost the third Test match of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The trio of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Rishabh Pant tried to play a rash and an extravagant shot with India’s back against the wall and got dismissed. The choice of shots from the trio did not please the former India head coach and player Ravi Shastri.
Shastri stated that the shots from the two senior cricketers and the youngster in the second innings that resulted in their dismissal will face harsh criticism back in India. He called those shots and especially called out the Indian captain, Rohit Sharma, for playing such a loose shot when he was down on form.
“There will be a few of other second-innings dismissals that will be scrutinized in India as well, involving two senior players and a youngster. Three very loose shots. It doesn’t help when one of it involved the captain who is struggling. Also doesn’t help when Cummins raises his game to a scale of 8 or 9 when up against his counterpart, who is at the opposite end of the scale,” Shastri said via Indian Express.
India will need to win the fifth Test match at the SCG
Sharma wanted to flick a delivery from Pat Cummins against the line, and the ball seamed away to take a leading edge to fly to Mitchell Marsh at Gully. Kohli continued with his loose shots outside the off stump and tried to play a cover drive on a ball pitched on the sixth stump. He got an outside edge, which was taken safely by Usman Khawaja in the slips. Rishabh Pant tried to smash a short ball from Travis Head into the stands when India were playing for a draw. Instead, he was caught in the deep.
Rishabh Pant and Rohit Sharma have failed in the ongoing series so far. Sharma has basically no runs with his bat in this series. On the other hand, Kohli has failed in the rest of the innings except for the unbeaten century that he scored in the second innings of the first Test match in Perth. India will need to win the final Test match in Sydney to retain the BGT.
