Mumbai, May 16 (UNI) Former India coach Ravi Shastri said he would have advocated for recently retired Test skipper Rohit Sharma to play the final match against Australia in Sydney earlier this year.
Rohit’s decision to retire from the longest format came on the back of a dismal ICC World Test Championship series loss for India in Australia, and his recent lean patch with the bat in the Test format that culminated in the 38-year-old sitting out the Border-Gavaskar series decider at the
SCG in January.
Shastri has since shared details of a conversation he had with Rohit at an IPL fixture and prior to his retirement.
Speaking with host Sanjana Ganesan on the latest edition of The ICC Review, Shastri said, “I saw Rohit a lot at the toss. At the toss, you don't get enough time to speak. Though I did put my hand on his shoulder in one of the games.
“I think it was in Mumbai and told him, if I was coach you would have never not played that last Test match. You would have played that last Test match because the series wasn't over," he said.
“And I'm not someone who threw in the towel with the scoreline 2-1. If your mindset is you feel you are… that's not the stage, you leave a team,” Shastri said.
From his three outings in Australia, having missed out the first of five Tests due to personal reasons, Rohit scored just 31 runs.
In his last eight Tests, which included home series against Bangladesh and New Zealand, Rohit was able to cross the 50-run mark only once, averaging 10.93.
Despite his low returns, Shastri believes he would’ve pushed for Rohit inclusion in Sydney, with the series poised at 2-1.
“That was a 30-40 run game. And that's exactly what I told him. The pitch was so spicy in Sydney. Whatever kind of form he was in, he's a match-winner,” said Shastri.
“If he had gone, sensed the situation, sensed the condition and smashed it for even 35-40 at the
top, you never know. That series would have been level. But that's each one to his own," he said.
“Other people have different styles. This would have been my style and I let him know it. It's sitting in my heart for a long time. I had to get it out. And I told him that,” Shastri said.
Rohit’s Test retirement comes ahead of India’s much-awaited tour of England, which will feature five Tests marking the beginning of the new ICC World Test Championship cycle.
Adding to the transition phase, Virat Kohli too recently bid farewell to the longest format, signalling the end of a defining era in Indian Test cricket.
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