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India’s batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has slammed Indian cricket fans for saying that a senior who loses captaincy deliberately underperforms under a new captain. Gavaskar believes that this misconception is far from the truth. He said that similar things are being said as 26-year-old Shubman Gill took over ODI captaincy from Rohit Sharma.
“Over the years, a significant misconception among Indian cricket fans is that if a player is replaced as captain, he will attempt to undermine the new captain by not performing to the best of his ability. Nothing can be further from the truth, for the simple fact is that if a captain has been replaced and then doesn’t perform, he could be out of the team altogether,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
“So, no player, however aggrieved he may feel at losing the captaincy, is ever going to underperform deliberately.”
Gavaskar lauded Gill for backing Rohit and Virat Kohli on their return to international cricket. He feels that having both Rohit and Kohli by his side is a huge advantage for a young skipper like Gill.
“With that misconception still going strong, many are questioning if young Shubman Gill will be able to handle two former captains, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who are part of the three-match One-Day International series against Australia. Gill has gone out of his way to say that his equation with them hasn’t changed simply because he is the captain now. If anything, he will only benefit by having these two stalwarts by his side. Both would be happy to offer suggestions if asked, and what could be better for a captain leading in this format for the first time than to have two of the greatest ODI players playing in his team?” he asked.
Gavaskar backs Ro-Ko but wanted them to play warm-up games
Gavaskar also backed Rohit and Kohli who were dismissed cheaply in the Perth ODI. He said that the pitch was not easy to bat on and others struggled as well. However, he wants the players who were not part of the West Indies Test series to play warm-up games before heading into the ODI series.
“It was never going to be easy for both to make a comeback on a bouncy Perth pitch after a few months’ gap. It’s not as if the other players who have been playing regularly have performed any better. The international schedule for India is a very tight one, and the mingling of the three formats never helps,” the 76-year-old said.
“The batters have to adjust to the bounce of the white ball and, with it, the bat speeds to be able to hit more fours and sixes. The bowlers also have to bowl a different length than in red-ball cricket. Regardless of a player’s experience, adjusting takes time. So, it would have been nice if those who were not part of the Test series against West Indies had been sent earlier to Australia to play a couple of warm-up games and be better prepared for the steep bounce in Perth and other Aussie pitches.”
Rohit and Kohli will have a chance to prove naysayers wrong when they step out to bat at Adelaide Oval in the second game of the series on October 23.
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