Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has suggested skipper Rohit Sharma needs to channel his successful white-ball approach while coming out to bat at number six in the upcoming Boxing Day Test against Australia, starting in Melbourne on Thursday.

Rohit made a move to number six following KL Rahul doing well as an opener in the 295-run win in Perth, a game he missed due to the birth of his second child. But after moving down to number six in the batting order, Rohit has managed scores of 10, three and six in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy series so far.

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“I think he’s got to be very clear in his mindset to go out there and take the attack to the opposition and not worry about anything else. The last thing you want is him to be in two minds whether to defend or attack. In his case, it should be attack. He picks up length quickly, he should take the opposition on at that number.

“Because if he gets away in the first 10-15 minutes, in any way, he’s not got past that 15-20 minutes, half an hour. So why don’t you play a natural game, go and take the attack to the opposition and take it from there? Because I think that is his best way of not just coming back into form, winning a game for India as well.

“Because that number is a crucial number. The best No.6s in the world are the guys who know how to have the ability to counter-attack. They read the situation well. Yes, if a lot of wickets have fallen, maybe for a little while.

“You might have to be circumspect, but the intent has to be far sooner than later. Especially when you have that kind of ability and especially when you open the batting for India and you have all the shots for Australian conditions,” said Shastri on the ICC Review show.

With the five-match series currently tied at 1-1, Shastri also heaped praise on Rahul, who’s been India’s best batter on tour by scoring 235 runs from six innings at an average of 47, and formed a strong opening partnership with Yashasvi Jaiswal. Rahul’s 84 in Brisbane also helped India save themselves from being made to follow-on.

“I would have asked him (Rohit) to open in the last Test match but then the way Rahul has batted, I mean he was a joy to watch and the way he’s batting, I believe he struck a purple patch.

“It could be a position he might just want to keep and enhance the way he’s playing because his technique was faultless. The way he left the ball, the way he allowed the ball to come onto the bat, I mean some of his cover drives were as good as any played by anyone in world cricket at the moment.

“And so I think when there’s that much confidence there, you know, let it be. I would like to see Rohit Sharma, his tactics change a bit because he can still be extremely dangerous at that number (six),” concluded Shastri.