All is not well within the Indian setup at the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, with reports of unrest within the dressing room following India’s defeat in Melbourne. The side trails 1-2 with the final Test in Sydney, and two of its batting stalwarts, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohliseem to be at the forefront of the concerns.
Rohit’s form, along with his captaincy, is under scanner, while Kohli’s repetitive dismissals outside the off-stump has been a cause of worry for the team management. While head coach Gautam Gambhir didn’t confirm whether Rohit will even be part of the XI for the Sydney Test, the debates over duo’s future have transcended to the limited-overs format, too.
The Champions Trophy takes place next month, and India can’t possibly accommodate two of their star batters being out of form for the coveted tournament. However, former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson shunned aside concerns over the duo’s lack of runs.
“I don’t think it (current poor form) will really play a part at all with Rohit Sharma and Virat’s impact in one-day cricket. It’s going to be different conditions where they’re playing in Dubai. One-day cricket does really free them both as well,” said Watson.
He placed his faith in Kohli’s extraordinary ODI numbers — 295 ODIs, 13906 runs, Average: 58.18 with 50 hundreds and 72 fifties.
“Kohli is an absolute master of one-day cricket.”
“Yes, he’s a master of all formats, but especially ODIs. You see his extraordinary numbers over a long period of time, averaging around 57 and a strike rate of 93 over a long period of time. It’s crazy to think the control that he has over his innings.”
Rohit could be back to best
Watson said Rohit could be back to his best in ODIs, citing the example of the 2023 ODI World Cup.
“We’ll see that again in the Champions Trophy. Rohit, like we saw in the one-day World Cup (2023), when he was at his very best, he was taking on the game.
“It’s more difficult to be able to do that in Test cricket. He hasn’t been able to find that balance here in Australia. But when he goes out for the batting in one-days, he lets loose. That’s when we see the very best of Rohit Sharma.”
“So I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t perform really well in the Champions Trophy, knowing that he probably doesn’t have a lot of time left, whatever that is, but a lot of time left in international cricket. So I’m sure he’ll let the handbrake off,” he added.
