'The moment the balls were in the middle and off stump, that is where most of his dismissals are and that is where he will have to work a bit more.'
Cheteshwar Pujara -- who anchored India's successive series victories in Australia -- believes Rohit Sharma has it in him to find his touch in the ongoing series Down Under.
In his last ten Test innings, Rohit has scored just 131 runs, and just one half century at an average of 13.10.
'He will have to work more on his footwork. If he has a slightly bigger stride, that will definitely help him,' Pujara told ESPNCricinfo.
Revealing the reason for Rohit's dip in form, Pujara explained: 'The stump line has been troubling a lot. He's been getting out LBW and bowled, which is a bit of a concern for him. So that is the line he will have to work a bit more in the nets because the moment the balls are outside the off stump he looked comfortable.
'The moment the balls were in the middle and off stump, that is where most of his dismissals are and that is where he will have to work a bit more on that line,' Pujara added.
Rohit batted at No. 6 in the Adelaide Test, scoring 3 and 6, but Pujara felt the skipper should continue batting down the order.
'We are looking at India's future. KL (Rahul) and Yashasvi (Jaiswal). They've opened in the first Test match, they batted really well. Shubman Gill is likely to be at No. 3. So we are talking about the long term and that's where I feel Rohit should continue batting at No. 6,' the Test great added.
Later, Pujara told Star Sports: 'I would like Rohit Sharma to come back to form as soon as possible. Because when he scores runs, it will affect his captaincy as well. When a captain is out of form, it affects his captaincy as well.
'Rohit Sharma is an experienced player. He is going through some bad form. But even there, a start is very important for him. He should focus on getting his first 20 or 30 runs steadily. After that, he can capitalise on the start and convert it into a big score. So, hopefully, when he comes in the first half or quarter of an hour, he should focus on getting a start,' Pujara added.
Going by Rohit's statistics in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia), across all batting positions in 46 completed innings, he averages a shade less than 30 while in 20 innings as opener, he scores at 37.8 thanks largely to the successful English summer of 2021.
A BCCI Level 3 coach, who previously worked at the National Cricket Academy, spoke extensively on the technical aspects of Rohit's game and why the No. 6 spot suits his game.
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