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With India to play their next Test in June this year, there are questions over the future of under-fire batting duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
Rohit Sharma (left) and Virat Kohli struggled to score in Australia. (PTI Photo)
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, two of India’s finest batters, were among their weakest performers of the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. Together, the duo managed 221 runs in 14 innings as India suffered repeated batting collapses to lose the five-match series 1-3.
Australia tour wasn’t the first time that Rohit and Kohli have underperformed. Last year, they struggled for runs in successive home Test series against Bangladesh and New Zealand.
India’s ICC World Test Championship cycle has come to an end as they failed to qualify for the final. Their next Test assignment is the England tour which starts in June, and it raises few pertinent questions regarding the future of their ageing superstars, at least in red-ball cricket.
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar though feels that it’s the selectors who will have to take the call on whether the team needs Rohit and Kohli in Test cricket.
“How long they continue is really up to the selectors,” Gavaskar told news agency PTI. “Now that India has failed to qualify for the WTC final, it would be pertinent to reflect on the reasons that (why it) happened.”
In Australia, India failed to cross the 200-run mark as a team six times out of nine innings indicating the failure of their batters.
“It is clear that in the last six months, the batting failed and that was the main reason that we lost matches that we should have won,” Gavaskar said.
“So, if changes are required for the new cycle of the WTC which starts in mid-June in England, then hopefully the selectors will take into account who would still be there for the final in 2027 and choose accordingly,” he added.
The 75-year-old, who is the first batter in Test history to reach the milestone of 10,000 runs, also advocates for the inclusion of top domestic performers.
“Unless they are given a chance how will we know if those doing well in Ranji Trophy will do well at the international level? Here’s where good selections come in,” he said.
Gavaskar praised the selection committee for backing young allrounder Nitish Reddy who scored a memorable century in Melbourne to bail India out of a tough spot.
“Compliments to Ajit Agarkar and his team for seeing the potential in Nitish Kumar Reddy and picking him for the Test squad too,” he said.
