Rohit must open to land f irst punch: Shastri

PTI Brisbane: Former India head coach Ravi Shastri, who knows a thing or two about winning Test rubbers in Australia, on Thursday asked India skipper Rohit Sharma to return to the opening slot "if he has to throw the first punch" on an opponent brimming with confidence. The move to slot Rohit at number six did not yield the desired results for India and they were hammered by 10 wickets in the second Test at Adelaide, leaving the five-match clash locked at 1-1 and with everything to play for in what Shastri believes could decide the fate of the series.

"That's where he's (Rohit) been at his best over the last eight or nine years," Shastri was quoted as saying by 'The Age'. "It's not that he's going to set the world on fire he could but that's the place that's best for him... If he has to do damage, if he has to throw the first punch, that's the best place from where he can do it."Rohit had only one fifty in his last 10 innings heading into the Pinkball Test last week when Shastri, interestingly, advised against changing the opening combination of Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul after their success in the position while backing the captain to bat in the middle-order.