Rohit Sharma's promotion to No.3 a good move: Sunil Gavaskar

Rohit Sharma

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has praised the decision to promote Rohit Sharma to No.3 in the batting order in the ongoing first innings at Sydney. After losing the wicket of Murali Vijay in the very first over of the innings, the 27-year-old joined KL Rahul in the middle and the duo added 71 unbeaten runs for the second wicket.

"To have him at No.3 makes a lot of sense. He played the white ball (in ODIs) easily and if he can handle the red ball, then it will be a huge plus. Then Rohit will be someone who can see off the new ball and even take it apart," Gavaskar told Star Sports.

The right-hander has often been criticised for getting out in a lazy manner despite getting off to a start, and Gavaskar felt that he should look to cut down certain shots during the early part of his innings and look to play them only when he has settled down.

"He is spoilt for choice (of strokes). But he must learn to keep some shots in the back pocket and display them only after he has crossed a certain number of runs," he said.

Rahul looked composed: Gavaskar

The 65-year-old also praised the effort of Rahul, saying that he looked composed during his stay in the middle, but cautioned him to not let the Australian quicks exert pressure on him on the morning of day three. 

"Rahul was impressive for being right behind the ball and leaving them well as well. He must not let the Aussie bowlers get under his skin. A pull shot in the last over of day 2 was a dangerous one to play,” he said.

Overall, he felt that both batsmen had done well to negotiate the rest of the day after India had lost the early wicket of the in-form Vijay to Mitchell Starc.

"Both batsmen shaped very well after some initial tentativeness,” the former India opener concluded.