"You can’t have a captain who is there for one match and not there for the rest" - Sunil Gavaskar on Rohit Sharma
Former Indian opening batter Sunil Gavaskar has called for Rohit Sharma to play all ODIs this year moving forward after the series defeat to Australia. His comments came after the swashbuckling opener missed the first ODI to be available for a family function.
Rohit missed the first ODI against Australia in Mumbai to attend his brother-in-law's wedding function. The 35-year-old returned for the next two games, but could not make a significant impact as the Men in Blue lost both of them to concede the series.
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Speaking to Star Sports, the 73-year-old said there is no room for family commitments during international cricket except in cases of emergency. He reckons a captain must be available for all the games.
"I think he needs to play every game. You can’t have a captain who is there for one match and not there for the rest. It is so important. It can happen to any other player but I think I know it was a family commitment, so he had to be there. That’s understandable."
"When it comes to the World Cup, you can’t have a family commitment; it’s as simple as that. Maybe before that, finish everything that you have unless it’s an emergency. Emergency is something completely different."
Rohit's absence from the first ODI prompted Hardik Pandya to fill in as the leader. India went on to win it by five wickets after bowling the visitors out for 188.
"You need continuity in leadership" - Sunil Gavaskar
Gavaskar further claimed that a team cannot have two leaders and explained:
"You need continuity in leadership. There’s a feeling that you have got everybody with you, otherwise there are two leaders. Then there are two leaders that the team is looking at."
It was also India's first bilateral ODI series loss at home since March 2019.