'When it comes to WC, you can’t have family commitment: Gavaskar's ultimatum to Rohit after series loss vs Australia

Sunil Gavaskar has expressed his reservations against the concept of split captaincy at Team India. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma missed the series opener due to family commitments. Rohit capped off a couple of forgetful outings as captain in the Australia series as Steve Smith and Co. recorded a famous 2-1 win over the hosts.

Urging Rohit Sharma to be available for all international matches in the World Cup year, legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has expressed his reservations against the concept of split captaincy at Team India. Despite starting the One Day International (ODI) series as favourites, Team India failed to upstage Australia in their recently concluded home assignment. Skipper Rohit, who missed the series opener due to family commitments, had returned to lead India in the second and third ODIs against Australia.

Rohit capped off a couple of forgetful outings as captain in the Australia series (PTI)

However, Rohit capped off a couple of forgetful outings as captain in the Australia series as Steve Smith and Co. recorded a famous 2-1 win over the hosts. In the absence of regular captain Rohit, India kickstarted the ODI series with an impressive win over Australia. Under Rohit's leadership, India were outplayed by Smith's men in the 2nd and 3rd ODIs. Reflecting on India's series defeat, batting legend Gavaskar observed that the veteran Indian opener should play every game for India in the lead-up to the 2023 World Cup.

"I think he needs to play every game. You can’t have a captain who is there for one match and not there for the rest. It is so important. It can happen to any other player but I think I know it was a family commitment, so he had to be there. That’s understandable. When it comes to the World Cup, you can’t have a family commitment; it’s as simple as that. Maybe before that, finish everything that you have unless it’s an emergency. Emergency is something completely different," Gavaskar told Star Sports.

Opener Rohit scored 13 off 15 balls in the 2nd ODI which Australia won by 10 wickets. India's all-format captain then failed to cash in on his start as the senior batter perished for 33 off 31 balls in the series decider. "You need continuity in leadership. There’s a feeling that you have got everybody with you, otherwise there are two leaders. Then there are two leaders that the team is looking at," Gavaskar added. Leading India's chase in the series decider, former Indian skipper Virat Kohli played a fighting knock of 54 off 72 balls against Australia at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday. However, Kohli's gritty half-century went in vain as Rohit and Co. lost the match by 21 runs.