Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar urged the BCCI not to repeat the mistakes of the Australia tour during the England tour. He was not happy about the team reaching Australia without their captain Rohit Sharma and said it sent the wrong message.
The Indian National Cricket Team has had a terrible outing in their Australian tour. Rohit Sharma & Co lost 3-1 at the hands of a Pat Cummins-led side who won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in 10 years.
India played the first Test without their captain Rohit Sharma in Perth
India played the first Test in Perth without captain Rohit Sharma as the skipper missed the game due to the birth of his second child. The opening batsman then joined the team in Adelaide and it was one of the worst tours of his career.
It even forced Rohit Sharma to drop out of the last game in Sydney. In his three matches in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, the Indian National Cricket Team captain has scored just 31 runs at an average of around 6 runs, which has put his place in the team in doubt.
Team without captain, vice-captain and coach for first two days in Australia – Sunil Gavaskar criticizes Rohit Sharma
Analyzing India’s poor performances in Australia, Sunil Gavaskar pointed out that the team should have come to England in one group instead of four groups like in Australia. He pointed out that India was without captain Rohit Sharma and vice-captain for the first two days, which sent the wrong message. He explained in his column:
“The mistakes made in Australia should not be repeated. The team should come to England in one group, not in four groups like in Australia. The team was without a captain and vice-captain for the first two days in Australia. And what kind of message does it send to the coach?
“Here is a team that lacks a leadership group and can easily fall apart with a few tough performances. Surely BCCI will not allow that to happen again. Yes, the odd player who is recovering from injury can join the team later. But the leaders must come first to make a statement that the team is ready to fight.” “.
Having more than 16 players will show that the selectors are not convinced – Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar then slammed the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee for taking 20 players to Australia. He said that even if a team takes more than 16 players to England, it will send the wrong message that the selectors are unsure. He added that they should only take the net players and not the players who will be given a chance. He added:
“For Australia to have a large squad of around 20 people is somewhat understandable as it is not an easy place to get to and it takes a few days for the body clock to adjust to the local time zone. It is not that much. A problem in England, but from the hot Indian summer in England the weather changes to cool winds can be difficult at the best of times.
“Again, having more than 16 players will show that the selectors are not confident and that is never a good sign. Just because the BCCI can send a big party doesn’t mean they will even give away the Indian cap. The usual problem is that there is little overseas bowling experience, so anyway take a few bowlers and they may be given training and clothing, but not an Indian cap.” Sunil Gavaskar concluded.
