BGT – Aus vs India 2nd Test – KL Rahul opens in Adelaide, Rohit Sharma will bat in the middle order

“I have come to the decision to reject the order because we want results, we want success,” Rohit said on Thursday. “And those two guys at the top – just looking at that one Test match – fought brilliantly. I was at home with my newborn in my arms watching KL fight. Honestly, it was brilliant to watch.”

“And I felt like there was no reason to change that now. Maybe things will be different in the future, I don’t know. Based on what happened and what KL has shown outside India, he probably deserves this spot.” Period.

“That helped us to be successful in the first test. The great partnership with Jaiswal on the other hand probably won us the test.”

Rahul may not have had a century but he was excellent in both innings in Perth. Jaiswal got a century, recovered a duck in the first innings and was feeling so good in the middle that he was happy to point out that Mitchell Starc was progressing too slowly and Nathan Lyon might have been a legend but was getting old. India managed 487 for 6 runs declared and won by 295 runs.

“When you come to a place like Perth and have over 500 runs, that’s a huge tick,” Rohit said. “What I saw from the outside looked brilliant and there was no need to change anything.”

Just as he concluded his answer, Rohit offered an insight into the way the team wants to operate, whether they win, lose or draw. They don’t seem to bend to the stature as much as previously perceived. Here, for example, the captain gave up his place to Rahul, who only played one of the three games in the previous Test series.

“It was actually pretty easy for me,” Rohit said. “Not easy for me personally, but it made a lot of sense for the team.”

“Team-first” is the philosophy that led India to select the eleven they played with in Perth because it meant keeping two men out with a combined total of over 800 Test wickets.

“I definitely see them playing a big role in the rest of the series,” Rohit said of Ashwin and Jadeja, “because what they bring to the table can never be written off.” And of Washington, he said: “We have seen what he has done with that can do with the ball and the bat. He has solid technique to play anywhere in the world. And when there are guys like that on the team, you get self-confidence. And with “Especially Washy, now I just hope he doesn’t get injured because a player like him is always valuable to our team Washy, I can see his graph only going up from here.”

“We have seen what he (Washington Sundar) can do with the ball and the bat. He has solid technique to play anywhere in the world. And when you have guys like that on the team, you get self-confidence.”

“Today’s youth are fearless. You don’t carry any luggage. Jaiswal, Gill, Pant – these are the cricketers of a different generation,” Rohit said. “When we first came to Australia all we thought about was how to score runs in your favour.

“Whenever I talk to them, they only have one thing on their mind: how to win the game. They don’t think about how I would score a hundred or a double hundred. When you start thinking about the individual performances like that.” Take care of yourself, because if you have to win, you have to perform – and that happens automatically. If your main focus is winning games, series and tournaments, these guys’ great achievements are secondary.

“If they are not able to contribute with the bat, they think about what they can do in fielding or bowling. So guys think that way these days, which is a very, very good thing. I don’t know if anyone is talking about telling them about it, telling them, but that’s their natural attitude when they come to a tour – their attitude is how to win the game.”