2 days Ago By CNBCTV18
Former Australia captain Mark Taylor wondered why India ‘sidestepped’ from saying that skipper Rohit Sharma was dropped from the final Test of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He said a country’s captain can not ‘opt out’ for a series-deciding match, like media in the Asian country has been reporting since the eve of the Test. Vice captain Jasprit Bumrah walked out of the toss instead of the out-of-form skipper on Friday.
He said Rohit had ‘opted to rest’, even citing it as an example of the ‘unity’ and ‘no selfishness’ in the Indian dressing room. Rohit, who missed the first Test due to personal reasons, scored just 31 runs in five innings in the next three, averaging only 6.20.
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that’s once again, sidestepping the point," Taylor said on Triple M Cricket. “The bottom line is the captain of a country does not opt out for the final Test match, the final deciding Test match of a series. He has been dropped and I don’t know why they just don’t say he’s been dropped.
That doesn’t mean he’s dropped forever, it means he’s missing this match because he is out of form. That is unfortunately professional sports." Rohit has been at the center of media attention since the loss in the last Test.
Reports initially suggested fragmentation in the Indian dressing room with head coach Gautam Gambhir lashing out at some of the players. On Thursday, different media outlets reported contrasting stories on Rohit, with some saying he had been dropped while others claiming he had chosen to rest. “Yes, I think, because this is such an important Test match they don’t want any anything to distract them," Gavaskar opined on Star Sports about the subject.
“Sharma, obviously he’s the captain and he’s a selector to selector. He’s there’s a captain, coach, manager sometimes. They would have had that conversation and looking at his form, he decided that it was better that Gill should come in.
" Read more: Border-Gavaskar series: Rishabh Pant-Ravindra Jadeja partnership drag India to 107/4 at Tea “I think India, it’s a little bit different. In the sense that you don’t normally see this. This is probably the first time that I recall that a captain has opted not to play.
I’ve dropped myself down the order as a captain when I wasn’t scoring runs," he added..
