Rohit Sharma's captaincy instincts take over; corrects bowler's plan as Shubman Gill stays absorbed in his role

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In the incident happened after the 33rd over, after Rohit spotted that Sundar was erring with his bowling plan to left-handed batter Cooper Connolly, he walked up to the bowler and gave him a dose of fiery on-field chat. It looked like an animated chat, with Rohit making numerous hand gestures that indicated he was guiding the off-spinner on what changes to make. Sundar did not utter a single word and did all the listening, while Gill was seen in the background, busy setting up the field for the next over.

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"The key for the off-spinner to the left-hander is to move the ball away from the batter, and bowl a little slower," said former India fast bowler Varun Aaron on commentary after watching Rohit. “Generally captains come and tell the bowlers what to do...”

Earlier in the match, Rohit made a stunning comeback in Adelaide. After being dismissed for just eight runs in the rain-curtailed series opener at the Optus Stadium in Perth last week, which added fuel to the ongoing World Cup chatter, the 38-year-old scored a potentially career-extending 73 on Thursday, which laid the foundation of India's decent total of 264 for 9 against Australia in Adelaide.

Rohit, who hasn't missed a training session since landing in Australia last week, carved out a patient 97-ball knock, en route to which he even forged an innings-building 118-run stand for the third wicket with vice-captain Shreyas Iyer, who scored a 77-ball 71 as India fought back after losing Gill (9) and Virat Kohli (0) in quick succession.

At the back-end of the innings, Axar Patel, promoted to No. 5 in the line-up, vindicated the call with his 41-ball 44, which included a 39-run stand with Sundar (12), before tail-enders Harshit Rana (24 not out) and Arshdeep Singh (13) added 37 off 29 balls for the ninth wicket.

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