India's cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar brutally slammed Rohit Sharma for not selecting Shubman Gill into the playing XI for the fourth Test match Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The Men in Blue added Washington Sundar into the playing XI in place of young Shubman Gill. India captain Rohit Sharma also stated that Gill was not dropped but was left out as the side needed cushion in bowling at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne.
However, Gavaskar said that Rohit Sharma was just changing the language, the young batter was dropped.
"How much bowling did you give to Washington Sundar? What cushion are you talking about? The requirement of the team is perfectly fine. You need to take decisions based on that, but you left him (Gill) out of the team, you can only call it dropped in whichever language you might speak," he responded on Rohit Sharma's statement on Star Sports.
"You can say you omitted or dropped him, both are the same. Omit looks different, drop looks different, and left out looks different. I am talking about English but in the end, that guy was sitting in the dugout and was not on the ground," Gavaskar added.
He also alleged Gill was dropped so Rohit wants to open alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul can bat at number 3.
"I cannot say what will be a big decision as I don't know what sort of discussions happen in the team environment. I only want to say that your batting was failing and you dropped a batter, Shubman Gill, for this match. You dropped Shubman Gill just because you (Rohit Sharma) wanted to open and KL Rahul had to come at No. 3," he responded.
Gavaskar further highlighted Gill's score in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide where he scored 30 runs in both innings.
"You had only five batters. Ravindra Jadeja was at No. 6. Jadeja batted very well in Gabba but he is an all-rounder. You weakened your batting instead of making it stronger. Shubman Gill scored 30-odd runs in both innings in Adelaide. He didn't play in the first Test and got out for one or two because of the mistake he made in Brisbane. Will you drop him for that? You did that and see what was the result," Gavaskar observed.
Coming back to the fourth Test match, Apart from Yashasvi Jaiswal, India's batters failed to perform in the Boxing Day Test as Australia defeated India by 184 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the five-Test match series. Both teams will lock horns against each other for the fifth Test scheduled to take place at Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney from January 3 to 7.