'Gambhir-Sehwag partnership broken up to accommodate Sachin': Manjrekar reminds after Rohit's disappointing return as opener

However, their momentum was disrupted when the pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul failed to replicate their record double-century partnership from the series opener at Perth. Despite their inability to achieve a big partnership in either Adelaide or Brisbane, the combination of Rahul and Jaiswal at the top was still a refreshing mix of experience and youth. This reminded Manjrekar of Sachin Tendulkar's last Test tour of Australia in 2012.

Tendulkar, by then, had racked up 99 international centuries, but his search for the 100th was proving to be excruciatingly long. Tendulkar couldn't do it in the four Tests against England, and although he scored a couple of fifties in Melbourne and Sydney, the triple-digit score simply eluded him. This, as Manjrekar pointed out, had plenty of similarities with the Rohit's current situation.

"When Sachin Tendulkar was here for his final Test series in Australia, and didn't get that century, that elusive 100th hundred, he stayed back and wanted to play the tri-series. The 50-overs tri-series had Sri Lanka as the third team. Gambhir and Sehwag had a great run as openers and that opening pair was dismantled to allow Tendulkar to play in that position. In fact, one of them was rested every game to have Tendulkar opening for India," Manjrekar said while commenting during Day 2 of the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Hanuma Vihari's suggestion

He made another interesting point, which Hanuma Vihari, hero of the drawn SCG Test during the 2020/21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, made. With scores of 3, 6, and 10, Rohit struggled big-time batting at No. 6 for India. But with Rahul showing great fortitude, how much sense would it have made to thrust him back into the middle order? Clearly, none. Hence, with Shubman Gill dropped, this was the ideal scenario. But there was one more, that could have benefitted all three – Rohit, Rahul and Jaiswal, revealed Manjrekar.

"Hanuma Vihari made a suggestion that could have made everyone happy. You had Rohit Sharma, you want him to open… fine. He opens, his suggestion was Yashasvi Jaiswal bats at No. 3 only because he's had so many problems with the new ball… the first couple of balls that he has faced from Mitchell Starc, so you keep him away from that danger, and then you have KL Rahul continuing to open the innings. So that was a better compromise I think but that's all gone now," he said.

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