New Delhi, Jul 17 (PTI) Beyond his quintessential easy-going exterior, Rohit Sharma is one of the toughest blokes in the global cricket arena, someone who is not known to pull back punches.
If he decides to dig his heels, some of that fighting spirit would be needed. Especially after it came to light that the national selection committee headed by Ajit Agarkar wants to give a long rope to Yashasvi Jaiswal in the ODI set-up going forward and the plan has the tacit support of the Indian team management, most significantly head coach Gambhir.
Only Rohit would know whether and how much fight is left in the tank.
After 513 international games, 20, 289 runs and 50 centuries across formats, Rohit Sharma has earned the right to bow out on his own terms.
But the selectors also have the right to select the best squad which they think will be a title contender in the 50-over ODI World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia in 15 months’ time.
Post July 19 at Lord’s, India would next play an ODI on September 27 against the West Indies at home, which is the same window in which the T20 squad will compete in the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya.
If Rohit decides to hang in there, it would be interesting to see how the selection committee goes about its job.
Tale of three strong-willed men ==================== The relationship between Rohit and the Gambhir-Agarkar duo can be only be described lacking in mutual trust. The story of Rohit, Agarkar and Gambhir is a saga of three individuals, who have a mind of their own.
Perhaps a slightly flexible individual could have acted as a bridge between the three.
Till a couple of years ago, Rahul Dravid was the glue that held Rohit and Agarkar during two highly successful campaigns — the 2023 ODI World Cup in India and the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies. India won the latter trophy under Rohit.
Gambhir, with his strong convictions, is very different from what Dravid brought to the table.
A Deja Vu moment for Old Timers ====================== The apparent Rohit versus Gambhir battle has eerie similarities with the Sourav Ganguly-Greg Chappell fracas back in 2005.
During the 2024 IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders were playing an away game at Wankhede against Mumbai Indians and it was already known that Dravid was leaving the head coach position after the ICC event. The BCCI was looking for a new head coach and Gambhir was a runaway favourite.
A person close to former India captain recalls, it was Rohit who actually went up to Gambhir during that evening training session at Wankhede and said: “Gauti bhai Indian team mein aa jaao’ (Gauti bhai join the Indian team), and Gambhir in return had apparently said: ‘If you remain captain, I will definitely join’.” However, there were also naysayers who warned Rohit with probing questions: ‘You are so used to Rahul Dravid school of man management. This will be a different challenge. Are you up for it?” he said.
The apprehension wasn’t unfounded.
By the time it was 0-3 against New Zealand at home, the cracks started appearing and by the time the Australia Tour happened, the breakdown in relations was complete.
Debacle Down Under ============= Cut to January 2, a day before the start of New Year’s Day Test against Australia at Sydney and one could see Rohit engrossed in a prolonged discussion with Gambhir and Agarkar at the SCG as the team trained.
There was something amiss and one knew that Rohit wanted to sit out considering he was out of runs.
Sources close to selection panel tell that Agarkar had advised Rohit not to “sit out” as his selection for the next series in England, six months from then would be an issue.
Rohit apparently wanted to quit Tests and announce his retirement the very next day. But when he gave an interview to the broadcasters, he was famously quoted: “I am a father of two. I know what is good for me.” Agarkar and Gambhir were left stunned, it is learnt. Mutual trust which was fragile took a further hit.
Will he or won’t he? ============== In between, Rohit led the Indian team to Champions Trophy win and also played a match winning knock against New Zealand in the final in Dubai.
But when the selections for the England tour were about to take place, there were conflicting versions that came to light.
If one asks people close to Rohit, they insist he committed for all five games and didn’t talk about playing just two. In fact, Gambhir had also discussed with him the potential bowlers they would face in the series.
However, if people close to the selection committee are asked, they would say that he had told them that he would take a call after playing first two Tests, something that wasn’t agreeable to the panel. Selectors told Rohit that he would be dropped and he reacted by announcing his retirement.
There was little faith left.
Removal from ODI captaincy ended it all ======================== What completely broke Rohit’s faith and trust was when the Champions Trophy-winning skipper was removed from 50-over captaincy in the very next series that was scheduled seven months after the ICC event.
It wasn’t Rohit’s fault that there was no 50-over cricket even after IPL that would have given him a chance to get game time.
When Agarkar informed him about moving on keeping the 2027 World Cup in mind, the disappointment was huge and the conversations were difficult. Both Agarkar and Gambhir were on same page.
After this Rohit became a lone ranger whose only goal was to win the 50-over World Cup but the Agarkar-Gambhir combo was non-committal.
The lack of clarity and communication did affect Rohit’s style of positive batsmanship and results dwindled.
But a story on moving on from him on the day he played one of his worst innings wasn’t something he would have expected. There could still be twists in tale of this Sharma-Agarkar and Gambhir saga. PTI KHS PM MRM MRM
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