New Delhi: Rohit Sharma faced the wrath of fans and cricket experts after the side promoted him to opener for the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the MCG. The move backfired miserably as the Indian captain’s miserable run with the bat continued.
Rohit struggled, conceding just 31 runs in five innings with scores of 3, 6, 10, 3 and 9, resulting in him averaging 6.20, the lowest of any touring captain on Australian soil.
Rohit’s decision moved KL Rahul to number three and left Shubman Gill out of the playing XI.
Former India opener Aakash Chopra has expressed his anger in the past, highlighting that MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli had taken a bold decision to try Rohit as opener in ODIs and Tests respectively in a bid to revive his career.
“For the first time in his career, he has got a call for himself. In the past, there have been calls for him. MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli have been called up to move him from middle order to opener. Dhoni for ODIs, Virat for Rohit to get dismissed. I took part in the test because I wanted to,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube show.
Chopra emphasized that Rohit’s call was entirely for his own benefit and not for the team’s benefit as dropping Gill and relegating Rahul to third was not in India’s favour.
“For the first time, captain Rohit got the call and it was entirely for his benefit. It was not in the team’s interest. To be honest, it couldn’t be in the team’s interest because Rahul has opened very well. Shubman Gill 2023 “In 2018, I ranked second in scoring and showed good performance in Adelaide, but I was left out of the team,” he said. Added.
“All this because Rohit was thinking about himself and not the best interests of the team. It was for the first time in his captaincy career. The result was not good. India could not get a draw,” Chopra added.
India lost the fourth Test by 184 runs to Australia and are 1-2 down in the five-match series till the last Test in Sydney on January 3.
