Legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar feels that Rohit Sharma is among the few players who can play all three formats and hence his appointment as India’s Test captain was no surprise as well. However, Rohit was appointed as the Test captain of India as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief selector Chetan Sharma announced the squad for the upcoming T20 International (T20I) and Test series against Sri Lanka at home as well.
Speaking to Sports Tak, Gavaskar said: “The guy who is a certainty in all three formats – when the selection committee sits down and think of who are the certainties, then Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s names will come up. And between them, Kohli is not doing captaincy, so it had to be Rohit Sharma. There was no surprise there.”
While speaking about what he feels about his captaincy so far in the limited-overs formats, Sunil Gavaskar said that all seem to have clarity regarding their roles in the team.
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He said: “The way he has handled the team. The way players are getting clarity. I won’t say there wasn’t clarity earlier. That would be wrong to say as I was not in the dressing room, so I don’t know. But from the way he speaks, it seems like the players know their roles. And they know what the team expects from them and what the captain expects from them.”
However, earlier Sunil Gavaskar had said that Rishabh Pant would be a good option for Test captaincy also. But, the veteran explained that Pant’s name had only come up because there was a lack of clarity on Rohit Sharma’s fitness.
He said: “Rishabh Pant’s name had come up because we didn’t know about Rohit Sharma’s fitness. But if he is completely fit, no one else can be the captain for all three formats. It was the correct decision.
However, he has also said that it was a sure thing after Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were dropped from India’s squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka. Pujara and Rahane were not added in the two-match Test series. The three-match T20I series will start with the first game on February 24 in Lucknow as well.
Sunil Gavaskar said: “It was expected. If in the three Tests in South Africa, one of them had hit a century or played an innings of 80-90 runs, then it would have been a different matter. Yes, Ajinkya Rahane played an attractive knock. But apart from that, there weren’t enough runs from them when it was expected and when the team needed the runs.”
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While speaking about the T20I squad, he said: “It’s a good team, it’s a balanced team. It’s a good thing that Sanju Samson has got another opportunity because India need a reserve wicketkeeper. Ishan Kishan will also get another chance, which is a good thing.”
“When the selection committee has a problem of deciding who to leave out, that’s a good problem. When instead of seeing who to pick, you have to see who to leave out, it’s a good problem. That’s what the selection committee wants as well, that they have so many options in front of them that it becomes a headache to see who they can drop,” Sunil Gavaskar concluded.
