Australia’s strategy to break the opposition’s pattern was leaked

India captain Rohit Sharma had a horrible time in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Rohit was very disappointing with the bat and even looked clueless as captain. His poor numbers even forced him to drop for the final Test in Sydney.

Former Australian cricketer Kerry O’Keeffe spoke about the strategy adopted by Australia to attack the Indian captain and bring down the team immediately. O’Keeffe claimed that Australia were successful as they forced Rohit Sharma out of the last game.

Australia’s tactics not only affected India’s combination but also took Rohit Sharma’s career to the brink. There have been calls for his retirement, but Rohit still feels he has something left.

Read also: Rahul Dravid was named as Harbhajan Singh blames Gautam Gambhir for India’s downfall

Kerry O’Keeffe reveals Australia’s strategy

While speaking to Fox Cricket, Kerry O’Keeffe claimed that the tactics of attacking the opposition captain have worked again for Australia. According to him, Australia have opted for the same tactics over and over again whenever they have won.

“So it has happened. The Australian tactic for years has been to seek to bring down the opposition captain, and it has been, if you look at the series they’ve won, it’s worked all the time,” O’Keeffe said.

Australian bowlers were all over Rohit Sharma in the series. The Indian skipper scored 31 runs in three Tests that he played at an average of just 6.20. It is the worst average by a visiting captain in Australia and sums up their miserable Test series.

How did Australia attack the opposition captains?

Kerry O’Keeffe further cited examples of how Australia have previously attacked opposition captains to bring the whole team down. He claimed that Australia was not successful Ajinkya Rahane in the 2020-21 BGT and as a result, they lost the series.

His examples also include Pakistan’s Shan Masood, West Indies’ Kraigg Brathwaite and New Zealand’s Tim Southee. All these players led their respective teams against Australia recently but did not perform well individually.

“They couldn’t get Rahane Ajinkya last time and he won the series. But if you look at the captains they have dropped in recent times, Sharma. Tick. Shan Masood with Pakistan. They were three nil. Kraigg Brathwaite, he was one, but they were on top of Kraigge. They went to New Zealand and beat Tim Southee, winning two to nil,” O’Keeffe added.

Kerry O’Keeffe breaks down Australia’s strategy against Rohit Sharma

Kerry O’Keeffe further mentioned that Australia tried to attack jasprit bumrah but the fast bowler was too good for them. However, his tactic worked against Rohit Sharma as he was already out of form.

“They couldn’t bring (Jasprit) Bumrah down. He was too good. But then Rohit Sharma took over and they brought him down straight away, to the point where he pulled out of the final Test. So this is a tactic that they seem to want to do if they can, if they can break the pattern and make it anonymous, it empowers them,” O’Keefe observed.

Rohit Sharma played the second, third and fourth Tests of the series. He missed the first Test due to the birth of his second child and dropped out of the fifth Test due to his poor form with the bat.

In Rohit’s absence, vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah led India in the first and fifth Tests. Bumrah led India to a historic win in Perth and almost led the team to victory in Sydney before a back injury forced him out of the match.