Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has questioned the intent of Mumbai's Test players -- Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer -- after their dismal performances in the recent clash that led to a loss to Jammu and Kashmir after more than 10 years. Gavaskar praised bowling all-rounders Shardul Thakur and Tanush Kotian for their rescue acts but questioned Mumbai's Test atters for their aggressive approach.
"The dismissal of Mumbai’s Test batters once again brought to the fore the perils of the all-out aggressive mode of batting that is nowadays thought of as being central to run-making. It can work on flat pitches, but on pitches where the ball is doing something, there has to be a technique good enough to keep out the good delivery," he wrote in his column on Sportstar.
Gavaskar recalled Indian batters' recent dismissals in the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Sydney. He feels that India could have added another 50 runs to score in Sydney had common sense prevailed.
"There are more chances of a dismissal while looking to play in a manner that one is not used to, as was seen in the recent Sydney Test [between India and Australia] when rushes of blood caused some silly-looking dismissals. A bit of common sense and patience, rather than a fatalistic approach, could have gotten another 50 runs, and that could well have altered the result of the match and the series," he added.
BCCI's diktat behind players turning up for Ranji Trophy?
Gavaskar also questioned players making themselves available only after the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) diktat to play domestic cricket. He pointed out that last year Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were stripped of their BCCI contracts for not making themselves available for domestic cricket. While Rohit made his return to Ranji Trophy after nearly a decade, Iyer has been playing domestic cricket across formats. Gavaskar also hopes that the young opener Ayush Mhatre learned from Rohit and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
"Whether their hearts were in it or they did that only to ensure they were not stripped of their BCCI contracts, like Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were, after missing out on the Ranji Trophy games last year, is known only to them. Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s participation meant that Ayush Mhatre, who had got a couple of hundreds and some fifties, had to be left out of the Mumbai side. Hopefully, the youngster would have spent some time with both these players and picked their brains about adding to his batting ability," the 75-year-old said.
Rohit, Iyer and Jaiswal have been released from Mumbai's squad ahead of their must-win clash against Meghalaya. They will join the camp in Nagpur ahead of the ODI series against England.