Former spinner Harbhajan Singh has opined that India’s longer format captain Rohit Sharma should continue to bat in the middle order in the upcoming third Test against Australia, scheduled to take place from December 14 to 18 in Brisbane.
During an interview with an Indian media outlet, Singh predicted that despite a humiliating 10-wicket defeat in the second Test, the touring team is likely to maintain the same batting order in the third game.
Notably, Rohit, who missed the opening Test in Perth due to the birth of his second child, moved to bat at number six in a bid to continue with the opening pair of KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who played a key role in India. 295 run victory.
The decision, however, was not beneficial for the touring team as Rohit could only score nine runs in two innings of the second Test.
“I don’t think there will be any change in the batting order. I feel the batting order will be just like that. We discussed yesterday on the show that Rohit Sharma should probably set the order. (Sunil) Gavaskar sahab also said this, but I feel that the batting management team won’t think like that,” he said.
“They will probably stick to the same kind of batting order that worked for them in Perth. Rohit is also not in good form. So why would you send him (Rohit) up the order when he is not in form? I feel like you should start with just KL Rahul and Yashasvi (Jaiswal), and Rohit should bat in the middle order,” Harbhajan added.
Singh, however, predicted that India might make some changes to their lineup, with Washington Sundar and Prasidh Krishna replacing Ravichandran Ashwin and Harshit Rana respectively.
“I think we could see a change. Washington Sundar could come back and play in Brisbane. Although Ashwin didn’t play much and didn’t have many opportunities to do anything special, the way Washington Sundar’s first match went, he took two wickets and He’s a little better with the bat, I feel like he’ll be played,” he said.
“I think we will see a change in fast bowling. Prasidh Krishna can probably play in place of Harshit Rana. .
