Why India need Rohit Sharma for Test series in Australia?

Rohit Sharma has matured as a cricketer over the last few years. He has become a stalwart of Indian batting in limited overs cricket. But in spite of that, he is yet to cement his place in the Test team. The number of runs he has scored in recent times; Indian selectors cannot afford to ignore him for the all-important Test series down under.

India has a good chance of winning Test series in Australia if their batsmen put up a better show than they did in England. And considering that India need someone with the experience and class like Rohit Sharma in the middle order. Following are the main reasons why Rohit Sharma is must for Test series in Australia.

Failures of Rahane and Pujara overseas test matches:

During the overseas tours in 2013-2014, Ajinkya Rahane played a vital role in middle order for India scoring crucial runs whenever the team was in trouble. But in recently concluded England tour Rahane failed to make the same impression with the bat as he seemed low on confidence.

Considering the fact that he is the vice-captain and very experienced cricketer India was counting on Rahane for big scores. Same has been the story with Cheteshwar Pujara. Barring few innings, Pujara has failed to live up to the expectations that India had from him. That is why it is important to have Rohit in the middle order with his experience of having played for 10 years of international cricket.

Ability to build big innings and score quickly when required:

Rohit has impressed everyone with his ability to build big innings once he gets well set. The way he bats in the middle overs of ODI’s is phenomenal and if required he can up the tempo with ease. With the ability to score quickly Rohit can change the course of the match in one session. This ability makes him stand miles ahead of his peers.

Ability to bat with the tail

In his debut Test series, Rohit has shown us his expertise to bat along with the tail and get big runs. One of the issue that Indian team has faced in recent times, they haven’t been able to score when their tail gets exposed. He scored a couple of hundreds in his debut series where he mostly batted with the low order batsmen. This is one more aspect of Rohit’s batting which selectors should consider while picking a team for the Australian tour.