Rohit's Insipid Captaincy Lets Australia Take Control

It was a slow trudge out, with head bowed, for India's captain Rohit Sharma.

- Ashish Magotra

MELBOURNE: The imagery just fit. He had just been dismissed for 3, trying to play a tentative pull shot that was a cross between something you play in gully cricket and how a tailender usually responds to a short ball.

The ball, from Pat Cummins, was well outside the off-stump, short of length and there to be hit but perhaps the muddled mind was slow on the uptake. By the time Rohit decided what he wanted to play, it was too late. He miscued the shot and Scott Boland, at mid-off, had the easiest of catches to take.

Sharma had asked for the opener's role, pushed KL Rahul down the order and then he was dismissed playing a shot that was once considered to be his strength. Cue for criticism? No. Save that for the insipid captaincy in the first session on Day 2 of the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

For starters, India started the day with Mohammed Siraj. Not Jasprit Bumrah as most would have expected. The reason for that was not entirely clear but it helped Australia and Cummins, the batter, get off to a good start. The over went for 9 runs and it set the tone for what was to follow.