New Delhi: After failing to qualify for the World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle, the Indian cricket team needs soul-searching ahead of the upcoming cycle. The 3-1 defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has come as a reality check for Team India, which failed to secure a third successive WTC final loss.
While several key issues contributed to India’s loss Down Under, the biggest was the failure of a star-studded and ageing batting line-up which boasted the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
Both Virat and Rohit failed to make a notable impact in the series as India slumped to a series loss against Australia for the first time in 10 years.
Kohli amassed 190 runs in nine innings, while Rohit scored just 31 from five completed knocks.
While Virat managed a century in the series opener, Rohit only managed a single double-digit score in the series. The extraordinary slump even forced Rohit, the Indian skipper, to opt out of the series final in Sydney, fuelling talks of retirement from red-ball cricket.
With age not on their side, the future of both Rohit and Virat is now in the hands of selectors, according to former India opener Sunil Gavaskar.
“Now that India has failed to qualify for the WTC (World Test Championship) final, it would be pertinent to reflect on the reasons that (why it) happened,” Gavaskar told PTI.
The former India captained tore into the continuous failures of the batting line-up over the last six months and blamed the batters for India’s miserable Test summer. He urged the selectors to start thinking about the next WTC cycle and its finale in 2027 and pick the team accordingly.
“It is clear that in the last six months, the batting failed and that was the main reason that we lost matches that we should have won,” the former captain stated.
Time for the next generation to step up
Luckily for India, there is no dearth of young talent in the country and Gavaskar feels it’s time for the selectors to give the youngsters, who are performing well in the domestic circuit, a fair chance.
The likes of Devdutt Paddikal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Sai Sudharsan have been in and around the team for quite some time now and have shown their potential in both the domestic circuit and on ‘A’ tours.
“Unless they are given a chance how will we know if those doing well in Ranji Trophy will do well at the international level? Here’s where good selections come in,” Gavaskar said.
The 75-year-old cricket expert and commentator hailed the selectors for unearthing a talent like Nitish Kumar Reddy, who was one of the top performers for India on the Australia tour.
Gavaskar also advised the selectors to make sure that India’s ace speedster Jasprit Bumrah is not overburdened.
Both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma failed to make a notable impact in the series as India slumped to a series loss against Australia for the first time in 10 years. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
