New Delhi
Talks on Rohit Sharma’s Test retirement started only after the end of the Border Gavaskar Trophy. In that series, Team India had to face 1-3 defeat. The team not only lost that series, but the dream of the final of the World Test Championship was also shattered. Rohit had decided to sit out of the last match of the series against Australia in view of his poor form. Ravi Shastri said on this issue that if he had been a coach instead of Gautam Gambhir, he would never have allowed Rohit to do so. He himself told this to the Hitman during the IPL.
Ravi Shastri told the ICC without naming Gautam Gambhir, “I saw Rohit many times during the toss. You don’t get much time to speak during the toss. Although I put my hand on his shoulder in a match. I think it was in Mumbai and I told him, if I had a coach, you didn’t sit out of the last Test match. Take it if your mindset is such that you do not have a stage, then you leave the team. “
Shastri further said, “He was a 30-40-run match and this is what I told him. The pitch in Sydney was very sharp. Whatever form he is in, he is a match winning player. If he would go, understand the situation and score 35-40 runs above, you could not know what could have happened. That series could have been on par I was sitting in my heart.
If Rohit Sharma had played Sydney Test and won India by scoring a few runs, then he would have ended at a parrier 2-2. In this situation neither Rohit Sharma nor Virat Kohli would fall. Although Rohit Sharma did not give up even after Australia’s poor visit, he said during the last Test that he was not going anywhere. But before the tour of England, he suddenly shocked everyone by retiring.
Rohit Sharma had already lost his form before the tour of Australia, his bat in the home series against Bangladesh and New Zealand was calm. Team India had to face 0-3 defeat against New Zealand. India lost a series at home first after 2012.
