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Right after losing the fourth Test against Australia, Indian coach Gautam Gambhir told captain Rohit Sharma that he won’t be playing the fifth and final Test match in Sydney, sources told CricBlogger on Friday. This revelation, contrary to public perception that Rohit opted out of the Sydney Test, intensifies the brewing concerns about the dynamics in the Indian team. Rohit had immediately informed the board officials about Gambhir’s decision but they categorically told the Mumbai cricketer that the coach was going to take the final call. And that was all. Rohit was dropped subsequently. None of the board officials were available for comments.
Sources also said that Rohit made two more calls to board officials to inform them about the team and captaincy dynamics in and around the Australian series. The first call happened when Gambhir told him not to skip the opening Test due to paternity leave. Rohit was very firm on reporting back right after fulfilling his family commitments and reminded BCCI about past precedences, where captains were allowed to skip international games for family reasons. The BCCI agreed to allow Rohit to skip the opening Test in Perth.
Sources said that when India won the Perth Test, Gambhir did a Greg Chappel on Rohit like the way Saurav Ganguly was told to just play in the XI without captaincy right after he touched down in Australia.To this, Rohit again called the board and clarified that he is the designated captain of the team for the entire series. In reply, the board said okay to it and Gambhir’s plan to make Jasprit Bumrah a full-fledged captain for the series backfired.
It is also revealed that Rohit wanted to open the innings in Adelaide and it was Gambhir who said no. Demoting KL Rahul down the order was Rohit’s decision and not Gambhir’s, sources revealed. However, after losing the fourth Test in Melbourne, all hell broke loose. Gambhir was again at it and very clearly told Rohit that he won’t play the Sydney Test. Sources said that things have come to such a pass that both captain and coach are not on taking terms. Sources also said that this series could be curtains for Rohit at the highest level, which means Rohit may not be picked for the India ODI team from now on after his strained relationship with Gambhir.
Sources also said that Gambhir four senior cricketers — Rohit, Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli — about this situation in the team meeting after losing back-to-back Test matches at home to New Zealand. He had asked them to pull up their socks and compete with youngsters. Gambhir made it very clear that no senior can play for India anymore based on reputation. It is going to be the form of the player that will be taken into account.
It has also come to light that Rohit fought for Ashwin to play the pink ball Test in Adelaide against the wishes of Gambhir. “So, it’s a full fledged war out there for the Indian team right now. Perhaps, a win in Sydney will help things to settle things down,” the source said while adding that Hardik Pandya could become the ODI captain as a stop gap arrangement of sort.
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