The talks around Rohit Sharma's retirement in growing by leaps and bounds and its India captain's own performance which is fanning these talks. Rohit Sharm once again disappointed with the bat on Day 2 of the fourth Test against Australia at the MCG. Rohit Sharma's return to the opening slot in the Boxing-Day Test did not do any wonder to his batting. The 37-year-old yet again registered a single-digit score, lasting only five balls and scoring just 3 runs.
His latest dismissal has sparked a flurry of reactions on social media, with many netizens expressing their disappointment while some advising him to retire from Tests. In his last 14 innings, Rohit has managed to score only 152 runs, which only highlights his struggles in the longest format of the game.
Following his absence from the Perth Test, where Jasprit Bumrah led the team to a convincing victory, Rohit has registered scores of 3, 6, 10, and 3 in subsequent matches.
Both his batting performance and his captaincy decisions are now being questioned. In the Melbourne Test, the team management opted for a selection strategy that included three all-rounders, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, and Nitish Kumar Reddy. But to accommodate these three, they had to drop Shubman Gill.
The next three innings will decide Rohit Sharma's Test future: Sunil Gavaskar
Meanwhile, India's batting great Sunil Gavaskar in an exclusive interaction with Sports Tak, has made it clear that the next three innings will decide Rohit's Test future.
"The next three innings will decide Rohit Sharma's Test future. I wasn't in favour of Team India's decision to drop Shubman Gill and pick Washington Sundar for the fourth Test, it's beyond my comprehension. We all know, it's India's batting which is suffering the most in the series. And why did you demote your most consistent batter KL Rahul? Rohit should have come at no.3 himself. These questions will certainly be raised," Gavaskar told Sports Tak.
Talking about the match, the follow-on threat is lingering over India as they ended the Day 2's play in a precarious position. Barring Yashasvi Jaiswal's 82 off 118, none of the India batter shone with the bat which saw them reeling at 164/5 at Day 2 stumps and are still trailing behind by 310 runs. While Virat Kohli scored 36 off 86, KL Rahul chipped in with 24 off 42. Not the onus is on the shoulders of Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja, who are still intact on the crease. On being asked about how India can save the MCG Test, Gavaskar said that Indian batters will have to spend as much time as possible on the crease in order to avoid follow-on.
"The MCG Test is going in favour of Australia and there is no doubt about it. Had India lost only 2-3 wickets and have scored 180-190 runs on Day 2, then we could have said that they are still in the game. Let's hope Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar spend as much time on the crease as possible on Day 3. If they bat on till lunch, Australia won't force a follow-on on them," he further added.