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Cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar said that if there are doubts over captain Rohit Sharma's availability for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 then the selectors should name a new captain for the series and the 36-year-old will join the squad later as a player.
There are reports that Rohit will join the Indian squad later in the upcoming tour of Australia as he asked for a break from the management citing personal reasons. In case Rohit misses the Test, vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah will lead the side in the series opener while Abhimanyu Easwaran is likely to be his cover.
In the exclusive conversation with Sports Tak, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar said that appointing a deputy as a leader for the first Test match will put a different kind of pressure on him.
"It is important for the captain to play the first Test. If he gets injured then it is a different matter. In such a situation, if your leader is not available in the first match, then appointing a deputy leader, the pressure that builds on him is a different kind of pressure. It will not be easy for him to take the responsibility of captaincy again. We have been reading that Rohit Sharma will not play in the first Test, perhaps he will not play in the second as well. If this is the case then I say that right now the Indian selection committee should say that you have to rest, rest, if there are personal reasons then look at them. But if you are missing two-thirds of the matches then you should go for this tour only as a player. We will make the vice-captain the captain of this tour. Because there should be clarity. It is the responsibility of the captain because when we lost 3-0 here, it is important to have a captain. Absolutely necessary" Gavaskar told Sports Tak.
The cricketing legend reckoned that after a humiliating loss against New Zealand, Team need a captain to unite them before the Australia tour.
"Indian cricket is the most important. I would say that if we had won the New Zealand series 3-0, it would have been a different matter. Because we have lost this series 3-0, there is a need for a captain. The captain has to unite the team. If there is no captain in the beginning, it is better to make someone else the captain" Gavaskar added.
BCCI have already announced the squad for Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024 which will be played in Australia.
Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024 schedule
The first Test match between India and Australia will be played in Perth from November 22 to 26 after that the Adelaide Oval will witness a Day/Night second Test match from December 6 to 10. The third Test match will be played at iconic The Gabba, Brisbane from December 14 to 18. The Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne will witness the fourth Test match from December 26 to 30. The fifth and final Test match will be played at SCG, Sydney from January 3 to 7.
India squad for Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25
Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Travelling reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed.
