Cricket News

Former India legend backs Rohit Sharma’s stance of backing only those who desire to play Tests for India

India sealed the five-match Test series against England by 3-1 after they won the 4th Test at Ranchi by 5 wickets. Indian captain who was in a cheerful mood after the hard-fought victory at home termed the series win as a significant achievement even though it was their 17th consecutive series win at home.

However, during the post-match conference, Rohit Sharma also gave his piece of mind on the ongoing crisis in Indian Cricket where some of the players chose to prefer IPL over Test cricket. Rohit Sharma during the press conference bluntly said that Test cricket is the pinnacle of cricket and it shows who is hungry to play Tests and who is not.

He further stated that only players will be selected in the Indian Test team who have the zeal to represent the nation in the longest format of the game and who are ready to put in the hard yards for it.

Sunil Gavaskar echoed Rohit Sharma’s sentiments

Former Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar fully backed Rohit Sharma’s statement and condemned the pick-and-choose culture that has been prevalent in Indian cricket in recent times. He said that the player’s pedestal at which the players are is because of Indian cricket and if they don’t want to play for India, then they shouldn’t be picked.

In an interview with Sports Tak, Sunil Gavaskar said, “He’s right. The ones who want to play Test cricket, you look at them. I’ve been saying this for years. The players are what they are because of Indian cricket. The stage of life and career they are at is all because of Indian cricket. The money, fame, and recognition that they have got is because of Indian cricket. So you’ve got to show some loyalty towards Indian cricket.”

He further added, “And if you don’t show that for whatever reasons and say ‘I won’t play, won’t play that’ Rohit is right in saying the ones who have the hunger, the ones who are willing to put the effort, will be given more opportunities going ahead. If this is the attitude of the selectors then it will be good for Indian cricket. We’ve seen many players pick and choose, this shouldn’t happen.”

Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer’s fiasco

Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer have been under fire in recent times for missing a domestic match and by that they gave their indirect availability to be considered for the Indian test team. While Shreyas Iyer pulled out of the domestic matches for Mumbai citing fitness related he was given a clean chit by the NCA.

On the other hand, Ishan Kishan opted out of the South Africa test series citing mental fatigue and he didn’t even feature in a single domestic match for Jharkhand. Recently, he was seen practising with Hardik Pandya for the IPL and is also currently playing in a corporate T20 tournament which is seen as a preparatory tournament for the next month’s IPL.