“If I Were The Coach…”: Ravi Shastri’s Blunt Take On Rohit Sharma’s Test Profession Ending

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri mentioned he would have ensured Rohit Sharma, who lately introduced his retirement from Test cricket, had taken the sector for the ultimate Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in opposition to Australia in Sydney earlier this yr. Last week, Rohit ended his Test cricket with 4,301 runs in 67 matches at a mean of 40.57, together with 12 centuries and a career-best rating of 212. As India’s Test captain from 2022, Rohit led the workforce in 24 Tests and received on 12 events, together with the facet turning into runners-up within the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) closing.

But a poor run of kind since September final yr meant Rohit’s Test profession was in a difficult scenario. In the house sequence in opposition to Bangladesh and New Zealand, Rohit was in a position to cross the 50-run mark solely as soon as, whereas averaging solely 10.93.

After lacking the primary Test in Perth as a result of beginning of his son, Rohit got here again to play within the subsequent three Tests, however scored simply 31 runs. That poor run resulted in Rohit, 38, sitting out of the ultimate Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test on the SCG in January.

“I saw Rohit a lot at the toss (during an IPL match). At the toss, you don’t get enough time to speak. Though I did put my hand on his shoulder in one of the games. I think it was in Mumbai, and I told him, if I were the coach, you would have never not played that last Test match.

“You would have performed that final Test match as a result of the sequence wasn’t over. And I’m not somebody who threw within the towel with the scoreline 2-1. If your mindset is you are feeling you might be… that is not the stage, you allow a workforce,” said Shastri on The ICC Review show.

With the series poised at 2-1 at that time, Shastri further elaborated why Rohit should have played the Test match in Sydney. “That was a 30-40 run game. And that’s exactly what I told him. The pitch was so spicy in Sydney. Whatever kind of form he was in, he’s a match-winner.

“If he had gone, sensed the situation, sensed the condition and smashed it for even 35-40 at the top, you never know. That series would have been level. But that’s each one to his own. Other people have different styles. This would have been my style and I let him know it. It’s sitting in my heart for a long time. I had to get it out. And I told him that.”

The Test retirements of Rohit and Virat Kohli signifies that India will enter a brand new period of Test cricket when their much-awaited five-match tour of England begins on June 20 in Headingley. The 5 Tests in opposition to England can even mark the start of the brand new ICC World Test Championship cycle for India.

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