Aussie tactic to break captain didn't work on Bumrah or Rahane, but got Rohit Sharma straight away, believes ex-spinner

Rohit Sharma “opted out” of the fifth and final Test Sydney with Bumrah returning to guide the side. (Photo: PTI)

Team India captain Rohit Sharma fell under the traditional Australian tactic of mentally breaking down the opposition skippers during the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, said former cricketer Kerry O'Keeffe. Team India failed to impress losing the series 1-3 to the hosts and Rohit had tremendous pressure as he scored just 31 runs in the three games he played, which makes his average of 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.

These scenes may recall the times of Australia's pace sensation Glenn McGrath who used to make predictions of how many times he will dismiss ex-England captain Michael Atherton prior to the series.

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Vice-captain Bumrah was given the duty of captain in the first Test at Perth as Rohit stayed back at home for the birth of his second child. India won the Perth Test by 295 runs making a statement in the opener of the series. Rohit took over in the second Test and from then on everything went southways for India as they lost the series 1-3.

Eventually, Rohit "opted out" of the fifth and final Test Sydney with Bumrah returning to guide the side due to his poor form with the bat.

The 75-year-old further validated his point saying the Aussies could not dominate 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, who played 24 Tests and two ODIs for Australia, said Australia had employed a similar strategy against captains of other visiting teams.

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"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.

Kohli became "bunny" of Boland

The leg-spinner also said veteran batter and former India skipper Virat Kohli had become “bunny” of pacer Scott Boland in the series. After a hundred in Perth, Kohli was dismissed repeatedly poking outside the off-stump and ended the series with 190 runs at an average of 23.75.