“Someone else has to make that decision” - Former India coach on Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma’s lean runs during BGT 2024-25
Former Team India head coach Greg Chappell reckons selectors need to decide on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's future amid their inconsistencies. Chappell stressed that players will hardly step aside themselves despite knowing they are past their peak.
Although Rohit and Kohli have been Team India's biggest match-winners over the last decade across formats, they have been inconsistent over the past 18 months. Their poor form was one of the significant reasons behind India's recent 3-0 series loss to New Zealand at home, and the same was partly responsible for their 10-wicket loss to Australia in Adelaide.
Speaking to reporters in Adelaide, the former Aussie batter reckons selectors must be strong enough and ruthless in their policies to know when a player's time is up. He opined that players will hardly walk away themselves, given it's a high-paying job, and said via The Hindustan Times:
"You know yourself whether you’re at your peak or not. But they obviously love playing the game. They want to play it as long as they can, and they have every reason, every right to want to go as long as they can. That’s why you need good, robust selection policies and selection panels to make those tough decisions. It’s not up to the players necessarily to make those decisions. They might want to make that decision. But it’s a well-paid job. Who’s going to walk away from it? Someone else has to make that decision."
Following his drought-breaking century in Perth, Kohli opened up on his poor form, stating that he doesn't want to stay for the sake of it and wants to keep winning matches for India.
"You’ve got to pick the right people to be selectors" - Ex-Team India coach
When asked how tough it is to chat with players of Rohit and Kohli's stature, Chappell acknowledged it is tough. However, he suggested that making knee-jerk decisions is also not the way to go.
Chappell added in the same interaction:
"It’s very tough. You’ve got to pick the right people to be selectors, the ones that are prepared to have those tough conversations. They can be. Depends on the relationships between the various people in the room. But we all go through it, everyone that plays at that level. You’ll have your ups and downs as a player. With good players, you prefer to give them a game too many than a game too few. So it’s always tough to get that balance right."
The pair will be looking to revive their form in the third Test against Australia in Brisbane.