Three things: Rohit shouldn’t sledge, Pujara needs runs and Johnson's aura

The second Test is evenly poised after India let their hands slip off the steering wheel. Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc battered India’s bowling to take Australia passed 500 after they were reduced to 247 for 6. India have also been a bit chirpy in the field and

Rohit, and India, should talk less and concentrate more

“How many wickets have you got?”

Rohit Sharma asked Mitchell Johnson an ‘innocent’ question when he came out to bat and it took him a long time to get over the words. The Mumbai batsman has a knack of asking the wrong question to bowlers and then paying the price. If anything, it makes one wonder whether he – in particular – should give up sledging altogether.

“Cricket can never be friendly," Dhoni had said during the 2008 tour of Australia. “There will always be aggression on the field but as long as it’s balanced and nobody crosses the line, then it’s fair enough.”

But then, there is good sledging – the kind that gets you wickets – and bad sledging – the kind that fires up opponents and puts your own team in a spot of bother.

Rohit’s sledge clearly belonged to the latter category. In general, Rohit belongs to the latter category.

In December 2013, Steyn and Rohit were having a go at each other and one of Rohit’s comebacks was: “We’ll see how you do when you come to India.”

It just doesn’t work for Rohit.

The most important ability of a sledger is not just the sledge itself but the ability to back it up in deed. That is what made the likes of Javed Miandad, Shane Warne, Ian Botham, Malcolm Marshall, Viv Richards and others so good at it. And Rohit is clearly not able to do that. If anything, he inspired Johnson to get focused and score a vital 88 off 93 balls including 13 fours and a six.

The left-hander also put on 148 runs for the seventh wicket in 26 overs with his skipper Steven Smith at a run-rate of 5.69. It was a partnership that not only got Australia back in the match but also gave them more than a good chance of winning it.

Here’s a random ‘good sledging’ reference guide for Rohit…

-- Viv Richards & Greg Thomas In a county match in England, Thomas was bowling to Richards and getting a few to whiz past the bat. After Richards played and missed another one, Thomas said: “It’s red, it’s round. Now f****** hit it!”. This obviously angered Richards who proceeded to hit the next ball out of the ground. Richards: “You know what it looks like now go and fetch it.”

-- Sunil Gavaskar & Viv Richards In one test between the West Indians and the Indians Sunil Gavaskar decided to drop down to no.4 from his usual opening position. Malcolm Marshall then proceeded to dismiss Gaekwad and Vengsarkar for no score. When Gavaskar came out to bat Richards said: “Man it don’t matter where you come in, the score is still zero!”

-- Ravi Shastri & Mike Whitney Mike Whitney was on the field as a sub fielder while Shastri was batting. Shastri hits the ball to Whitney and contemplates a single. Whitney throws the ball in and says: “Stay in your crease or I’ll break your f****** head”. Shastri replies: “If you could bowl as well as you talk you wouldn’t be the f****** 12th man!”.

Who is afraid of Johnson the bowler? Not India

Coming into the series, if there was one bowler India were afraid of – it was Mitchell Johnson… the quick and the furious, the one with some real pace and some intent. But Johnson the bowler has merely made up the numbers so far.

He has taken just four wickets in the series at an average of 64.25 and has looked pretty ordinary. His bouncers haven’t threatened neither has he managed to work up the kind of pace that would rattle the Indians. In fact, so far the Indians have played him pretty well. Murali Vijay is particular has left the ball well and the short spells have meant that Johnson has never had the opportunity to get stuck in.

India will only hope that nothing rouses him for the rest of the series. That basically means: keep Rohit away.

Will Pujara come to the party for India?

So far, we have seen the likes of Vijay, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane bat well for India but Cheteshwar Pujara has been missing in action. The right-hander’s average in home Tests is 75.2 but on tour, the average drops to 29.4 – a difference of 45.8 which is massive and perhaps an indication of just how much Pujara has struggled overseas.

Some of the dismissals have been unlucky (no DRS in the first innings) but quite a few come down to his tentativeness, which again stems from his lack of runs. It is a vicious circle but if India want to save Brisbane, then they will need Pujara at his best; at his India-best.