Out-of-form Rohit Sharma should consider dropping himself from India’s Playing XI in the Sydney Test against Australia, feels former cricketer Atul Wassan, believing in the theory that the team needs to have its best 11 players to win a Test match. As bitter a pill as it may be to swallow, Rohit is currently not one of them. Rohit’s batting is all over the place and his captaincy… well, the less said, the better. In such a scenario, where India need to win the final Test to draw the series and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Rohit appears to be a weak link. In fact, the only Test which India have won thus far in the series is the one in which Rohit didn’t play, and Wassan insists that the 37-year-old should take into consideration everyone’s interest and make the bold call of leaving himself out for the final New Year’s Test, starting January 3 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
“I feel sorry. They are such big players. It hurts when you see them struggle. This is the end of your career. See, what happens is… if you leave it too late – because there are millions of fans and I know I will get a lot of abuses today – people who are fans, they will get these memories etched, seeing their favourite players struggling. You don’t want to leave the sport with these memories. It’s a hard decision, more so for Rohit. He also knows that he’s been a great player but when he’s struggling, as a captain, he can earn huge respect in my eyes if he says ‘Ok, I’ll drop myself’. What will happen? In a team sport, you should pick the best XI players and then choose the captain. Not the other way around,” Wassan told ANI.
Rohit’s struggle has gone on for way too long. He averaged 15.16 against New Zealand at home, scoring 91 runs with one half-century, before embarking on Australia. However, his returns Down Under have cut a sorry figure – 31 runs from five innings at a lowly average of 6.2. Wassan is certain that Rohit’s issues are more in his mind than his batting, and nothing exemplifies it more than his dismissal in the first innings, where the Indian captain played a shot that was neither here nor there. Be it in the middle order or at the top, Rohit appears to be at sixes and sevens which is hurting the team big time.
“Just see the way he played that shot in the first innings. On any given day, that old Rohit Sharma would have put it over midwicket. But he went for the shot, because it’s his trigger – and realised ‘Oh my god’, and stopped. It looked more ugly. He knows his state of mind. It’s not like he’s any less of a player. He can come back also but if he says ‘I am not in the best of mind frames. Let me sit out and play Sarfaraz’. Who knows? He is that type of guy. If his game is not suited to those pitches, then why take him to Australia? And just make him the water boy? This is the problem. No one takes harsh decisions in India,” Wassan pointed out.
Steve Waugh was told ‘Retire, or you’ll be dropped
With Rohit being the captain and an automatic pick, Shubman Gill unfortunately missed the Boxing Day Test. To prove his point even further, Wassan explained the dynamics of the Australian team, recalling how the legendary Steve Waugh had announced his retirement before the 2003/04 BGT. Besides, contrary to public demand that Rohit should retire at the end of the Sydney Test, Wassan wants the skipper to skip the SCG Test, take a break and return afresh. As per him, a player of Rohit’s calibre should not go out on a high rather than leaving behind a figure where scoring every single run becomes an ordeal.
“That’s why the ethos and the culture in Australian cricket is better. They don’t flinch. Steve Waugh was told that if you don’t retire now, we’re going to drop you. So Steve Waugh announced that he is going to retire after the series. And that’s why we should not even ask questions. I would hate if Rohit retires at such a low phase. I am sure he can take a step back and come back stronger,” the former India cricketer added.
