"I was listening to Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri" - Aakash Chopra on where Rohit Sharma should bat in BGT 2024-25 3rd Test
Aakash Chopra has acknowledged that Rohit Sharma could open for India, as suggested by Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri, in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 third Test. However, Chopra feels Team India can't keep changing their batting order based on previous games' performances.
The third Test of the five-match series between India and Australia will start in Brisbane on Saturday, December 14. While regular opener Rohit batted at No. 6 in the visitors' 10-wicket loss in the second Test in Adelaide, KL Rahul played at the top of the order alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the cricketer-turned-commentator noted that former India captains Gavaskar and Shastri urged Rohit to return to his opening position in Brisbane.
"The question is - where will Rohit Sharma bat? I was listening to Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri. They said he should open as the experiment (KL Rahul opening) was just for one match, and since it worked in one match, you followed it in the second match, but now that experiment is over," he said (4:10).
However, Chopra opined that Rohit should have opened in Adelaide also if that's his rightful position.
"It's possible. He is the captain. He has been your most successful opener since he started opening. Then he can be an opener. There is no doubt about that. However, if he was going to play as an opener only, he could have done that in the pink-ball Test too," he observed.
"There is no hard and fast rule that you should do things according to what happened in the last match because if you do that, changes will start happening after every match - you do the same thing if it worked in one match, and then reverse it in the third match if it didn't work in the second. It cannot happen like that," Chopra added.
Jaiswal and Rahul stitched together a 201-run opening partnership in India's second innings of the first Test in Perth. However, they managed only 12 runs as a pair across both innings in Adelaide.
"He should bat in the middle order" - Aakash Chopra on Rohit Sharma
![Rohit Sharma aggregated just nine runs across two innings at No. 6 in the Adelaide Test. [P/C: Getty]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/12/5e55a-17340624740544-1920.jpg?w=500)
In the same video, Aakash Chopra opined that Rohit Sharma should continue to bat in the middle order in Brisbane.
"I feel he should remain where he is. He should bat in the middle order. He and Rishabh Pant can decide No. 5 or No. 6 between them based on the situation. I am not seeing him playing as an opener, to be very honest," he said (5:00).
The former India opener acknowledged that KL Rahul has been moved around in the batting order. However, he added that Rohit's recent numbers and struggles against the new ball suggest he shouldn't open.
"However, since Rahul has to be replaced, and Rahul is generally replaceable in terms of the batting order, etc., Rohit Sharma might ask him to bat at No. 6 and open himself. It can happen but if you see Rohit's numbers in his last 12 innings, where he has scored just one half-century and struggled slightly against seam and swing in India, it is not hinting in the right direction that he should open," Chopra elaborated.
Rohit has aggregated 142 runs at a paltry average of 11.83 in his last 12 Test innings. He has managed just a solitary half-century and has fallen prey to seamers quite a few times.