Former India batter turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has questioned the selectors and Indian team management’s ability to make a bold call on captain Rohit Sharma’s future in the Test. Despite his outstanding overall record for India, Rohit’s Test returns have massively slammed over the past few months. He also had a dismal series in Australia, finishing with 31 runs at an average of 6.20 in five outings as well.

In his column for Hindustan Times, Manjrekar wrote: “Now comes the tough part—can the committee actually take a tough decision in sync with their observations? For Mr Ajit Agarkar to take a pure cricketing decision no matter who the player is, we have to make his job easier. Us as former cricketers, the media, the administrators, and the fans who are the most influential force, must put Indian cricket ahead of an Indian great.”

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“Former cricketers are appointed as selectors so that they can use their acumen and instinct to make a judgement, say on Rohit Sharma at this stage of his career. Does Sharma still have the potential to make up for all his recent failures? I would like to think that the current selection committee has a pretty good idea about this,” he added.

In the same column, Sanjay Manjrekar applauded Australian cricket for recognizing when to drop out-of-form senior players instead of playing with them. However, Team India have lost six out of their last eight Tests, including consecutive series defeats to New Zealand (home) and Australia (away) as well.

“Australia does not wait for a player to retire; they drop him before he becomes a huge liability. And that is why Australia never lose 0-8 in eight Tests when it goes through its periodic slump,” Sanjay Manjrekar wrote.