Cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar has sensationally claimed that Rohit Sharma should be stripped of the Indian captaincy ahead of his team’s upcoming Test series against Australia.
India selectors have not confirmed whether the opening batsman will be available for the opening Test at the Optus Stadium on Friday, November 22.
It is understood the 37-year-old will not travel with the rest of the squad, who leave for Australia on Monday.
Jasprit Bumrah is expected to take over as India captain in his place, and Sharma decided to stay home for the birth of his second child with partner Ritika Sajdeh.
Coach Gautam Gambhir said during his pre-departure press conference that he was still “hopeful” Sharma would be available for the first Test in Perth.
Cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar has claimed that Rohit Sharma should be stripped of the Indian captaincy ahead of this summer’s Test series against Australia.
It is understood Sharma will not travel with his colleagues to Australia and will remain at home for the birth of his second child with partner Ritika Sajdeh (left)
India comes into the series fresh from a 3-0 loss to New Zealand and Gavaskar believes the team should not change captain midway through the series in Australia.
But cricket legend Gavaskar believes that the selectors should take away the captain’s role completely from Sharma if he cannot play in the first match.
“It is important that the captain plays the first Test match,” Gavaskar said in sports.
“It’s different if he’s injured, but if he’s not available then the deputy leader will be under a lot of pressure.”
‘I have been reading that Rohit Sharma might not play the first two Tests of the Australia series.
“I think in that case the selection committee should make Jasprit Bumrah team captain for the entire tour of Australia and tell Rohit Sharma that you will participate as a player in this series.”
India are looking to bounce back after their huge 3-0 series loss to India and could look to deploy KL Rahul instead of Sharma at the top of the batting order.
Gavaskar believed that to bounce back against Australia, India should not change captain mid-series.
“As we have lost this series 0-3 (against New Zealand), we need a captain,” he said.
Gavaskar claimed that the selectors should tell Sharma that he will only participate as a player in the series if he will not be available to lead the team in Perth.
Meanwhile, former Australian T20I captain Aaron Finch (right) came out to defend Sharma’s position.
‘The captain has to unite the team. “If there is no captain at the beginning (against Australia), it is better to appoint someone else as captain.”
But former Australia T20I and ODI captain Aaron Finch disputed the comments, claiming that releasing Sharma from his captaincy duties at such an important time in his life would not be the right choice.
“I totally disagree with Sunny on that,” Finch told ESPN around the wicket.
‘Rohit Sharma is the captain of the Indian cricket team.
“If you have to stay home because your wife is having a baby, it’s such a beautiful moment, you take all the time you need in that sense.”
Following Finch’s comments, Sajdeh appeared to bow to the former Australian batsman on Instagram.
Under a screenshot of Finch’s comments supporting her partner, Sajdeh posted a ‘greeting emoji’ before tagging the Australian’s Instagram account.
Despite their opposing views, Finch and Gavaskar will join forces on Channel Seven’s commentary box to provide coverage of the upcoming Test series.
Later, Sharma’s wife greeted former Australian T20I captain Finch on Instagram.
Finch stated that having a baby was “such a beautiful moment” and stated that Sharma should “take all the time she needed.”
It comes as both India and Australia have been working through several high-level selection headaches ahead of the first Test. Pat Cummins’ side appear to have settled on South Australian captain Nathan McSweeney as Usman Khawaja’s top-order batting partner.
And talking about how the team could line up for the first Test, Gautam Gambhir said there are other options available if Sharma is unable to play.
“Once we get closer to the first Test match, we will plan and play with the best XI that will do the job for us,” he told reporters on Monday.
“(Jasprit) Bumrah is the vice-captain, so obviously he will be (the captain) if Rohit is not available.”
Questions have been raised of late about Sharma’s future with the Test side after he ended his T20I career.
He had guided India’s white-ball team to the World Cup title earlier this year but struggled to get runs in India’s two recent Test series against Bangladesh and New Zealand.
Sharma has made just a half-century in his last five Test appearances.
Against New Zealand, Shama managed just 91 runs in six innings, with the opener falling to just eight runs during the second Test, after being dismissed without a run in the first innings.
Former captain and former chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth earlier spoke about Sharma’s mixed form and claimed that the 37-year-old might retire from Test cricket altogether.
Questions have started to arise over Sharma’s recent form after he struggled to get runs during India’s series loss against New Zealand.
‘We have to start thinking about the future. “If Rohit Sharma doesn’t do well, I think he himself will retire from Test cricket, for all you know,” he said.
‘He will only play ODIs. He has already left T20I cricket. It must be taken into account that he is also aging.
He added: “Hats off to Rohit for accepting the fact that he played badly throughout the series and was a bad captain.” That’s a great thing.
‘That is the first movement of a player to regain the rhythm. Accepting your guilt is very important. That is a very important quality of a human being.’