One shot and all hope died! Now these decisions of Rohit will also be debated
The captain hesitated to accept the umpire’s decision and went for a review, but the 25,000-odd spectators sitting on the ground had already felt the gloom. Rohit had raised hopes of a big and match-winning innings, but his one shot suddenly put Team India on the backfoot in the match. Rohit, who won the trophy 5 times for Mumbai Indians in the IPL, was handed over the captaincy of Team India so that he could end the drought of the ICC trophy.
If Rohit Sharma had played with a straight bat, hardly anyone would have got him out on such a ball. He also knows this, but he has now made a mistake.
Harbhajan Singh, former cricketer, commentator
If the selectors and coach did not select the right team in the 2022 T-World Cup, then captain Rohit’s decisions in the Oval Test also gave place to debate. If Ravichandran Ashwin and Dinesh Karthik were not replaced in the T20 World Cup and Rishabh Pant was not given a place in the playing XI on stubbornness, then Ashwin, one of the greatest bowlers in Indian history, was not considered worthy of playing XI in the WTC.
Rohit may have argued that the decision to drop Ashwin was too tough, but how right could it be to include Umesh Yadav in the squad, ignoring the number 1 bowler in the ICC Test rankings? Former captain Sourav Ganguly also expressed surprise over Rohit’s decision during the commentary. It would be a strange coincidence that the bowler who Rohit fell victim to in the second innings was Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon, who showed the Indian captain the way to the pavilion in his very first over.
India were heading for the target but with the dismissals of Rohit and Pujara, difficult but not impossible. Virat and Rahane have guts. He can make a comeback in the match.
Ravi Shastri, former coach and commentator
If Team India loses on the fifth day of the match, then everyone will again debate on captain Rohit’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss. It is a different matter that Australian captain Pat Cummins also said after losing the toss that he too would have decided to bowl. At the time of the toss, Rohit took a decision which did not prove to be a major disappointment of his captaincy period after seeing the clouds in the sky for some time.
If Team India wins the match in an improbable way, it will be seen as an extraordinary victory like Gaba, but if it loses, the pressure on captain Rohit will only increase in the next few months just before the ODI World Cup. .
WTC 2023 Final: Come on Team India! Difficult test, fight for life, remind Australia of Gaba
