Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar feels BCCI's selection committee chief Ajit Agarkar should remove Rohit Sharma from the captaincy role amid reports over his unavailability for the opening Test match against Australia in Perth on November 22 and rather announced his deputy, Jasprit Bumrah, as the leader for the tour.
Speaking on JioCinema on Sunday, veteran India cricketer Abhinav Mukund confirmed that Rohit is expecting his second child with wife Ritika Sajdeh, and hence is likely to miss the Border-Gavaskar series opener in Perth, with no confirmation yet on his availability for the second match in Adelaide.
Rohit, too, did not confirm his stance entirely when asked by the media in Mumbai as he said: “Right now, I am not too sure whether I'll be going, but let's see. Fingers crossed.”
Amid the uncertainty, Gavaskar, in conversation with India Today, reckoned that Agarkar should bring in some clarity within the team and declare Bumrah as the captain for the entire tour. The batting legend reasoned that the presence of a captain in the opening Test match of an away series is paramount, especially given the circumstance in which Indian cricket finds itself following the embarrassing whitewash in a home Test series against New Zealand last week.
“Captain should play the opening Test. It would have been different had he been injured. But if a captain is not available right in the first Test match of the series, then it would put a lot of pressure on the deputy leader and that is not easy. We see reports saying Rohit won't play the opening Test, and we don't know yet about his availability for the second Test, if that is true, then Agarkar should right now tell him, 'Whatever you wish to do, you can, whether you want to take rest, you can, that is a personal reason, but for this tour, you can only participate as a player. You can join the Indian squad whenever you want, but for this tour, we are naming the vice-captain as the leader.' There should be clarity because we lost 0-3 against New Zealand, so the captain has to be there. Indian cricket is the most important thing. Had India won the New Zealand series 3-0, it would have been a different case.” he said.
The Virat Kohli situation was different
{{/usCountry}}“Captain should play the opening Test. It would have been different had he been injured. But if a captain is not available right in the first Test match of the series, then it would put a lot of pressure on the deputy leader and that is not easy. We see reports saying Rohit won't play the opening Test, and we don't know yet about his availability for the second Test, if that is true, then Agarkar should right now tell him, 'Whatever you wish to do, you can, whether you want to take rest, you can, that is a personal reason, but for this tour, you can only participate as a player. You can join the Indian squad whenever you want, but for this tour, we are naming the vice-captain as the leader.' There should be clarity because we lost 0-3 against New Zealand, so the captain has to be there. Indian cricket is the most important thing. Had India won the New Zealand series 3-0, it would have been a different case.” he said.
The Virat Kohli situation was different
{{/usCountry}}When India toured Australia the last time, in 2020/21, Kohli, the then India skipper, too had left the series following the opener in Adelaide for the birth of his first child and did not return, leaving the entire leadership responsibility on his deputy Ajinkya Rahane.
Gavaskar, however, reasoned that three years back, there was clarity in the media and in the Indian dressing room over Kohli's unavailability, unlike now.
“But there was a clarity back then. We knew Kohli would have played just one Test match and vice-captain would take over the tole thereafter, which made it easier for the rest of the players to become used to that fact,” he said.