Former India opener Gautam Gambhir feels that the Team India Head Coach Ravi Shastri should have informed skipper Virat Kohli about the injury status of Rohit Sharma. Rohit suffered a hamstring injury in the match against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) In IPL 2020. From then onwards, his participation in the tour of Australia became uncertain. Initially, he was left out of all three squads.
The story of Gautam Gambhir from Star Sports’ show Cricket Connected
However, later BCCI included him in the Test squad. Although, it is now clear that he will not be part of the first two Tests. In the press conference, ahead of the first ODI of the series at the SCG, captain Virat Kohli stated that he had no clear idea about the injury status of Rohit Sharma.
Gautam Gambhir also stated that besides Ravi Shastri, the team selectors and the physio should have also informed Kohli about the injury status of Rohit Sharma. Gambhir feels that there was a lack of proper coordination between the players and team management.
Gautam Gambhir said that Rohit Sharma is a very important player for the Indian Team
“It is very unfortunate, because…. he is the captain…..Virat Kohli….see again, he went into the press conference, he has told the media that he had no clue about the update. Probably, the three most important people in this entire scenario are, the head physio, your head coach, and your chairman selector.”
“So, all these people should have been on the same page and your head coach should have actually updated Virat Kohli on that front as to what is the update on Rohit Sharma. You are going into the press conference and saying that he had no clue about the injury or the update on Rohit Sharma’s injury, which is very, very unfortunate.”
“Somewhere down the line, he is an important player and at the same time, there could have been a much better communication and coordination, which was lacking somewhere.”
What next for Team India, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli?
Currently, Rohit Sharma is undergoing rehabilitation. He is at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru along with Ishant Sharma. Ishant Sharma has been ruled out of the Test series against Australia. This is after missing most of IPL 2020 due to injury. The Mumbai Indians skipper was deemed fit and eventually joined the team.
India had to suffer in the first two ODI of the series against Australia. They were chasing massive totals and felt the absence of Rohit Sharma at the top of the order. Australia won the first two ODI’s comprehensively and won the ODI series. India came back strongly in the third and final ODI of the series in Canberra. They also won the T20 series 2-1.
However, their second-inning performance in the first Test match was just hauling. They were so poor that the fans would have been really disappointed with the play. Things needed to change and hopefully, they will now. Let’s wait and watch what happens in the second Test that starts from the 26th of December (Boxing Day).
