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Xtra Time Web Desk: India captain Rohit Sharma, addressing the press ahead of the boxing day test backed youngsters like Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal. 

While talking about Rishabh Pant's form, Rohit extended his support highlighting his success with the bat in the recent past and on the previous tours to Australia as well. Rishabh Pant, India's hero in the 2020-21 tour has struggled to live up to expectations, managing to score just 96 runs in three Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy so far.

Rohit stated, "There is no pressure. He has played just three Tests here. He has scored runs in India. He has been in good form. If two or three Tests go up and down, too much of judgement is not right. He knows what he has to do."

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"See, as I told you, all these youngsters - Rishabh, Gill, Jaiswal, all these youngsters are in the same boat. We don’t want to complicate what they are doing. They know what they are expected to do."

"Our job here is to keep talking them about small, small things like match awareness. I don’t think we need to tell them more and complicate stuff."

"Rishabh Pant knows what he has to do. He himself has a lot of expectations from him. He is working hard. I hope he clicks in the last two matches," Pant added. 

On the other hand, Yashasvi Jaiswal even after scoring his second innings hundred in Perth caught inconsistent. Shubman Gill also has managed to get starts, but has not managed to convert them big.

INDIA'S YOUNG IN BGT 2024-25
Yashasvi Jaiswal - 193 in 3 Tests at 38.60
Rishabh Pant - 96 in 3 Tests at 19.20
Shubman Gill - 60 in 2 Tests at 20.00

Hence, Rohit Sharma backed the youngsters, saying the team management has been keen on not putting pressure on the likes of Pant, Gill and Jaiswal and letting them play freely in the rest of the series.

As he stated, "Look, Jaiswal, he is coming here for the first time. He has already shown what he is capable of. when you have a guy like that in your team, you don't want to tamper too much with his mindset. Let him be as free as possible. We try not to overburden him with too many thoughts regarding his batting. He understands his batting more than any one of us. That's how he has played his cricket, scored all of his runs. We want to ensure he goes out there and plays his game freely. He has got the ability to play all sorts of games -- whether it's the holding game or dominating the game. It's just about trying to figure out certain areas of his game. I am sure he is doing that along with the other guys. Guys who have played here before share their knowledge."

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"You don't want to be telling him too many things about his batting. if he gets going, he can be very, very dangerous," he said.

While talking on Gill, he said "Talking about Gill, he is quality. It's just about backing that quality and making sure we give clear messaging to him. Like Jaiswal, we don't want to complicate too many things with him. He understands his batting really well. He knows how to score big runs."

"It's just about making sure that when you get 30s, 40s, you have to convert that into big runs. Getting in is the toughest part here, so when you get in, you have to try and score big runs," he added.

India will be eager to see youngsters performing their duties to keep India get a much needed victory at MCG.