Former India's star all-rounder Ravi Shastri stated that he would have ensured that Rohit Sharma played in the fifth Test of the Border-Gavaskar series 2024-25 if he was the head coach. Last week, Rohit announced his retirement from Test cricket ahead of the five-match series against England which is set to start from June 20.
Rohit's record in Test cricket
As Test captain, Rohit led India on a total of 24 occasions and emerged victorious 12 times. The batter called time on his Test career after featuring in 67 matches and scoring 4,301 runs at an average of 40.57. He has 12 centuries and 18 fifties under his name in the format along with the highest individual score of 212.
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Rohit was dropped from the Indian team for the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar series due to a string of poor innings which saw him score a total of just 31 runs in the three Tests he played against Australia.
"I saw Rohit a lot at the toss (during an IPL match). At the toss, you don't get enough time to speak. Though I did put my hand on his shoulder in one of the games. I think it was in Mumbai, and I told him, if I were the coach, you would have never not played that last Test match," Shastri said on the ICC Review show.
"You would have played that last Test match because the series wasn't over. And I'm not someone who threw in the towel with the scoreline 2-1. If your mindset is you feel you are… that's not the stage, you leave a team," Shastri added.
Shastri also elaborated on why he wanted Rohit to play the final Test of the series against Australia. He labelled the 37-year-old as a 'match-winner' and stated that if he could have even scored 35-40 runs on the Sydney pitch, then the match very well could have turned in India's favour.
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“That was a 30-40 run game. And that's exactly what I told him. The pitch was so spicy in Sydney. Whatever kind of form he was in, he's a match-winner," Shastri stated.
“If he had gone, sensed the situation, sensed the condition and smashed it for even 35-40 at the top, you never know. That series would have been level. But that's each one to his own. Other people have different styles. This would have been my style and I let him know it. It's sitting in my heart for a long time. I had to get it out. And I told him that," Shastri concluded
Following Rohit's Test retirement, Virat Kohli also called time on his Test career. The retirements of the two senior-most players of the team means that India will now enter a new era in Test cricket. Their first major assignment in the format will come in the form of England in June. The series will also mark the beginning of the new World Test Championship cycle.