"The Australians can take a leaf out of Rohit Sharma’s book" - Michael Hussey's advice ahead of remaining two Tests
Former Australian great Michael Hussey has urged the national team to learn from Indian captain Rohit Sharma to overcome their batting struggles in the ongoing Test series. The 47-year-old observed that Rohit has batted outstandingly against spin so far.
The Indian skipper scored a classy 120 in the first innings of the opening Test in Nagpur, helping the hosts to a 223-run lead. The right-hander made 32 in the first innings in Delhi and followed it up with an aggressive 31 in the second to help his side win the Test.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Hussey observed that Indian batters have grown up playing on such pitches and that no batter other than Rohit has looked efficient against spin. He explained:
"Obviously, the Australians can take a leaf out of Rohit Sharma’s book and have a look at the way he has batted so far. The way Rohit has gone about his job is certainly a good way to tackle spin and score runs in such conditions.
"The Indian batsmen have grown up playing on such pitches and so are more used to them. But it’s not really possible to bat exactly like how he has been doing. For instance, I couldn’t bat like Matthew Hayden."
Australia's batters have come under the scanner for overusing the sweep shot, especially after their performance in the second innings in Delhi.
Four Aussie batters, including Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, and Matthew Kuhnemann, fell while playing the sweep shot as the visitors succumbed to 113 all out from 61-1.
"Batsmen need to focus on their strengths" - Michael Hussey
Hussey advised the Australian batters to understand their roles clearly and back their strengths instead of going out of their way to score runs. The West Australian added:
"The focus of the Australian batsmen should be on gauging how best each one of them can score runs. Each one has a different method of batting. So some should look to hit the boundaries and be more aggressive, while some should look to play the anchor role.
"Batsmen need to focus on their strengths and the strokes that yield them runs instead of everyone trying one particular shot."
The third Test against India starts on March 1 in Indore and Australia will be desperate to bounce back after losing the first two games in the series.