Rohit Sharma’s knock will give him great satisfaction, says Abhishek Nayar

New Delhi, Oct 23 Former India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar believes that Rohit Sharma’s 73-run knock in the second ODI against Australia will give him a lot of satisfaction despite missing out on the century at Adelaide Oval on Thursday.

Rohit’s return to international cricket in the series opener only yielded eight runs in Perth. The poor batting effort in the first ODI attracted a lot of backlash towards the former India captain. However, Rohit silenced his critics with a solid knock in the next match, along with Shreyas Iyer’s 61 and guided India to 264/9 in 50 overs. Although the result didn’t go in the visitors' favour, but it will surely boost the morale of the opening batter.

Half-centuries from Matthew Short (74) and Cooper Connolly (61 not out) took the hosts over the line in 46.2 overs as Australia take a 2-0 unassailable lead in the three-match series.

“As a player, you might forget some of your big hundreds or double centuries, but there are certain knocks that stay with you, especially the ones where you’ve had to fight hard. Rohit Sharma may not remember this innings for the runs he scored, but knowing him personally, he’ll take great satisfaction from it. As a batter, when you make runs in tough conditions, it gives you a different kind of joy, much like a bowler getting wickets on a flat pitch,” Nayar said on JioStar’s ‘Cricket Live’.

“Rohit might be disappointed for not converting it into a big score, but deep down, he’ll know he worked hard for every run today. His resilience stood out. That’s what impressed me the most about this Indian team today: their resilience. Even when it looked like Australia would cruise to victory, they kept fighting. And Rohit embodied that spirit. Despite being constantly tested, whenever he got a loose delivery, he made the most of it. That intent, combined with grit, defined his innings.”

Former India wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel added that spinner Kuldeep Yadav will get a chance in India’s playing XI for the third and final ODI of the series.

“We will definitely see Kuldeep Yadav playing in the third ODI. As far as the combination is concerned, India will have to trust their top order, whether it’s about performance or runs and stick with the right balance. There’s no need for an extra cushion in batting. Kuldeep Yadav can provide those crucial wickets in the middle overs that India has been missing. If your top-order batters get out early, that’s part of the game,” he said.

“You can’t keep adding more batters to cover for that. The focus should be on playing the best combination to win. And on a lighter note, the support staff should make Captain Shubman Gill practice the coin toss while travelling to Sydney, because the toss has played a huge role so far. The ball swung a lot, just like it did in Perth. Even though Australia have sealed the series 2-0, I believe India has still played commendable cricket here, especially considering the limited preparation time they had,” the former batter added.

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