Shastri suggests Rohit to play the aggressor at No 6
Rohit Sharma’s decision to bat in the middle order in the Adelaide and Brisbane Tests, has failed to yield the desired results for the Indian team in the Border-Gavaskar series so far.
The controversy surrounding Yo-Yo fitness test’s importance has been creating headlines for some days. However, on Friday, Indian Cricket Team’s head coach Ravi Shastri made it clear that the players aspiring to play for India should expect no leniency as far as passing the Yo-Yo fitness test is concerned.
On Friday, during the pre-departure media conference, Ravi Shastri was answering a question about pacer Mohammed Shami (Test), batsmen Ambati Rayudu (ODI) and Sanju Samson (India A) getting dropped after failing the fitness test. When the coach was asked whether fitness was that big an issue in performance, he said: “It’s a combination of both. You have certain ability, but if you are fit, you can enhance that ability. That is why we emphasise on this yo-yo thing.”
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“If anyone thinks it is one-off, he can take a walk. He is sadly mistaken. The philosophy is simple: you pass, you play, you fail, you fail. The captain leads from the front, selectors are on the same page, the entire team management is on the same page and the boys have responded extremely well,” Ravi Shastri added.
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The Men-in-Blue will start their United Kingdom tour with two T20I matches against Ireland in Dublin followed by three T20Is, ODIs and five-match Test series against England.
Talking about India’s preparation of UK tour, Shastri said, “As far as preparation goes, it is ideal,” adding, “By the time Test matches start, it will be after a month. So, there is lot of time to acclimatise.”
“Every series is important, for us every game is a home game. We don’t play the opponent, we play the pitch. Our job is to conquer the pitch. It could be Mumbai, London, Johannesburg, it is the 22 yards that we should try and conquer,” Shastri added.
“The boys know they will be rated if they adapt to different conditions. The other team too needs to adapt. You have to say how am I going to take 20 wickets or score 350-400. Keep it simple,” Shastri concluded.
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