India’s captain Rohit Sharma walks off the field after losing his wicket during play on the last day of the fourth cricket test between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)
Former India coach Ravi Shastri reckons that Virat Kohli can still play in Tests for the next 3 to 4 years but said that captain Rohit Sharma might have to think about his future after the ongoing series.
“I think Virat will play for some time. Forget the way he got out, or whatever. I think he’ll play for another three or four years,” Shastri told Star Sports.
“As far as Rohit is concerned, it’s a call. At the top of the order, just feel the footwork isn’t the same. He’s probably late at times in meeting the ball. So, it’s his call at the end of the series. At times, we’ve seen in the series that his front foot isn’t really moving towards the ball as much as it should. There’s a trigger movement, and then after that, the leg stays planted,” he added.
Both Rohit and Kohli has had a torrid time in Australia with the Indian skipper Rohit managing just 31 runs across five innings, scoring 3, 6, 10, 3, and 9 at an average of 6.20, the lowest by a touring captain on the Australian soil. Kohli, meanwhile, despite scoring a century in Perth, has scores of 5, 100 not out, 7, 11, 3, 36, and 5 in the series so far.
In the match, India slumped to a demoralising 184-run loss to Australia in the fourth Test n Monday with Rohit Sharma and Kohli failing to come good yet again.
Chasing a near improbable target of 340, both Rohit (9 off 40 balls) and Kohli (5) failed to battle their technical frailties and mental cobwebs as India lost seven wickets for 34 runs in just 20.4 overs in the final session to be all out for 155 in 79.1 overs.
Australian captain Pat Cummins (3/28 in 18 overs) was superb as usual and Scott Boland was also magnificent (3/39 in 16 overs) in his every spell.
Nathan Lyon (2/37 in 20.1 overs) took advantage of variable bounce while Mitchell Starc (1/25 in 16 overs) got the prized scalp of Kohli.
(With agency inputs)
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