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Former Australian spinner Kerry O’Keeffe believes India’s captain Rohit Sharma succumbed to Australia’s traditional tactic of mentally dismantling opposing captains during the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy. India lost the series 1-3, and Rohit only managed 31 runs in three Tests, averaging a meager 6.20.
“They couldn’t bring down (Jasprit) Bumrah. He was too good. But then the baton was passed to Rohit Sharma and they brought him down straight away, to the extent that he withdrew from the final Test,” O’Keeffe told Fox Sports.
“So that’s a tactic they seem to want to do if they can, if they can break the skipper and make him anonymous, it empowers them,” he added.
O’Keeffe suggested this tactic empowers the Australian team. He highlighted how former Australian pacer Glenn McGrath often predicted the number of times he would dismiss the opposing captain before a series, a strategy that frequently proved effective. A prime example was former England captain Michael Atherton.
Jasprit Bumrah captained India in the first Test in Perth due to Rohit’s absence for the birth of his child. India won that match convincingly by 295 runs.
Rohit returned to captaincy for the second Test in Adelaide. However, his individual performance and the team’s results declined from that point onwards.
Rohit ultimately opted out of the final Test in Sydney. Bumrah returned to lead the team in his place.
O’Keeffe further supported his argument by pointing out that Australia struggled to unsettle Ajinkya Rahane during the 2021-22 series, which India won.
“They couldn’t get Ajinkya Rahane the last time and he won the series,” he said.
O’Keeffe, a veteran of 24 Tests and two ODIs for Australia, believes this strategy has been employed against other visiting teams’ captains as well.
“But if you look at the captains they’ve brought down in recent times, Sharma. Tick. Shan Masood with Pakistan. It was three-nil. Kraigg Brathwaite, it was one-all, but they were on top of Kraigg.
“They went to New Zealand and brought down Tim Southee, winning two-nil,” O’Keeffe added.
O’Keeffe also observed that veteran Indian batter and former captain Virat Kohli became a frequent victim of Scott Boland’s bowling during the series.
Following a century in Perth, Kohli was repeatedly dismissed while poking outside the off-stump. He finished the series with 190 runs at an average of 23.75.
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