Melbourne: Ahead of the Boxing Day Test, India captain Rohit Sharma dismissed fears of a knee injury during practice on Tuesday and said he was fine maintaining suspense over the batting position. Rohit injured his left knee during a training session at the MCG on Sunday and there was speculation about the severity of the injury.
“My knee is fine,” Rohit said in a media interaction ahead of the fourth Border-Gavaskar Test here from December 26.
Rohit missed the first Test Down Under to be with his family for the birth of his second child. He was expected to regain the opener’s spot but KL Rahul’s impressive 77 in India’s win in Perth led to an overhaul in the batting order as the skipper dropped to No.6.
The change didn’t pay off for Rohit as he scored 10, 3 and 6 in the last three innings while Rahul made the most of the opportunity by scoring 84 in the first innings in the third Test in Brisbane.
The captain said that he will do what is best for the team.
“Let’s not worry about who bats where. It’s not something we need to think about, I will discuss it here. We will do what is best for the team,” Rohit said.
About Kohli’s form, and his lack of form outside the off-stump, Rohit said, the veteran will come out of the slump.
“Kohli’s off stump… you only call modern day great. Modern day greats find their own way,” the skipper said.
Kohli scored a century in the second innings of the Perth Test, which India won after being bowled out for 150 in the first essay.
However, he was dismissed for 7 and 11 in the second Test, which Australia won by 10 wickets to level the series, while he scored 3 in the third Test in Brisbane.
Youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal failed to score after his match-winning 161 in the first Test but Rohit said he will be encouraged to play his natural independent game.
“You don’t want to sideline Jaiswal’s mentality. He understands his batting more than any of us. You encourage him to play freely.”�