India’s captain Rohit Sharma, center, talks to his teammates before the start of play on the last day of the fourth cricket test between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)
With Rohit Sharma’s form and captaincy status both under heavy scrutiny in the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy, it has been learnt there have been noticeable fissures in the team with a senior player ready to project himself as an interim option.
The Indian Express’ Sriram Veera, Devendra Pandey and Venkata Krishna B reported on Wednesday that after the Melbourne loss, the India dressing room has descended into chaos with head coach Gautam Gambhir having had enough of the recent subpar performances, delivering a brutal assessment of the players.
With Rohit missing the 1st Test at Perth, there were some players, all eyeing the captain’s spot, who were claiming openly that they would have to do something special on the tour. The aforementioned senior member who harbours a desire to be the interim captain, is actively portraying himself as ‘Mr Fix-It’ and it has been learnt that he isn’t convinced that the young guns are ready to take over leadership roles.
Rohit, meanwhile, has come under harsh criticism over his recent performances with the Mumbai batter scoring just 3, 6, 10, 3, and 9 in his 5 innings Down Under.
Before that, he had scored just 42 runs in four innings against Bangladesh and 91 runs across three games against New Zealand, with both series at home.
EXPRESS EXCLUSIVE: Gautam Gambhir cracks whip on Team India’s chaotic dressing room: ‘Bahut ho gaya’, The Indian Express reports
After he joined the squad after the 1st Test at Perth, Rohit did not want to change the winning formula so he let KL Rahul retain the opener’s role along with Yashasvi Jaiswal and moved himself to No. 6. But the decision did not bear fruit as he struggled for runs in this position in the 2nd and 3rd Test at Adelaide and Brisbane respectively.
He would return back to the top of the order for the 4th Test but his rough patch continued there as well with former India player Irfan Pathan stating Rohit wouldn’t be in the team if he wasn’t the captain.
EXPRESS EXCLUSIVE: Gautam Gambhir wanted Cheteshwar Pujara in India squad for Border Gavaskar Trophy, was turned down by selectors
“A player who has made about 20,000 runs — yet the way Rohit is struggling now, it seems his form is not supporting him at all. What’s happening now is that he is the captain, so he is playing. If he were not the captain, he might not be playing right now. You would have had a set team,” Pathan said.
It has been learnt that Rohit may take a call about his future after the current tour.
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