Rohit Sharma's decision to promote himself over KL Rahul as opener backfired, as he fell for a five-ball three just minutes into India's innings on day two of the Boxing Day Test.
India demoted KL Rahul, their top run-getter in the series so far, to No.3 with captain Rohit Sharma returning to his usual opening spot. With Shubman Gill, the usual No.3, being left out of the Boxing Day Test, KL was shunted down with Rohit looking to find form against the new ball.
However, the ploy did not work as Rohit succumbed to yet another low score: in his last eight innings now, he has managed a total of 59 runs, including scores of 3, 6, 10 and 3 in the series so far. Having pushed himself down to No.6 in Adelaide and Brisbane, Rohit returned to occupying the opening spot alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Facing Pat Cummins in the second over, Rohit fell off the last ball. He misjudged the pace of the ball, maybe the bounce too, managing an awkward top edge that only ballooned to mid-on, leading to a soft dismissal. On commentary, it was called a "nothing shot".
Earlier, Rohit was criticised for his defensive captaincy as Australia build on their overnight score, with Steve Smith leading the charge with a record 11th century against India. From 311-6, they managed to post 474.
There's also been debate over India's selection choices for the Test, having dropped Gill while keeping all-rounders Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar, who bowled a total of 22 overs combined out of 122.4 in the first innings.
Rohit now averages 25.29 in Australia after ten Tests, with the average being 29.20 against Australia overall. For a visiting top-six batter in Australia, Rohit's average is the sixth worst with a cut-off of ten Tests.
Watch: Rohit's promotion backfires at MCG
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