Amid questions over Indian skipper Rohit Sharma ‘opting out’ of the fifth and final Test against Australia in Sydney, former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu supported Rohit and said the decision would send ‘wrong signals’.
Expressing his views on Rohit ‘opting out’, Sidhu, while speaking to the media, said, as quoted by PTI, “My take on the Rohit Sharma issue is very simple. Such decisions have to be taken before or after a series. Horses cannot be changed midstream and here is a captain… There will always be opinions, we have a habit of pulling our heroes down. That should not be the case.”
According to Sidhu, Rohit deserves more “respect” and “faith” from the management despite his lean form with the bat.
He added, “Six months ago, the man had lifted the World Cup for you and he was scoring runs… At the moment, Indian cricket stands tall like a mountain. We have more and more young players playing, people are gravitating towards our country, and India sits at the top of ICC as well…”
“Rohit Sharma represents 150 crore Indians as a captain… During a series, when you remove him, you are sending the wrong signals,” Sidhu concluded.
Earlier on January 3, Sidhu posted a video on X slamming the management for sitting out Rohit in the final Test.
“If you make a player captain, especially such a big player who has served India, it doesn’t matter if he is in form or not. I feel if you made him sit out or gave him an option, the management cannot give the option to captain to sit out,” he said in the video.
Rohit ‘opted out’:
Breaking his silence on the row, Rohit Sharma told Star Sports during lunch break on Day 2, “Someone is sitting inside with a mic or a laptop or a pen, what he writes, what he says, our life does not change because of that.”
“We have played this game for so many years, so they cannot decide when we should go or when we should not play or when we have to sit out or when we should captain. Sensible aadmi hoon, mature aadmi hoon, do bachhon ka baap hoon, mere paas thoda sa dimaag hai! (I am a sensible man, I am a mature man, I am a father of two kids, so I have a little bit of brain),” added the Indian captain.
Rohit mentioned that the decision to stand down from the New Year Test was tough from a personal level. “Sometimes, it is very tough. I have come so far here to play. I have not come to wait outside,” he said.
“I want to play. I have to win. When I came to the dressing room on the first day in 2007, I have always said that I have to win the match. The team has to win the match,” he said.
For Rohit, the decision was a part of his trait that always placed the team first. “Sometimes you have to understand what the team needs. If you don’t keep the team ahead, then it is of no use. If you play for yourself, make your own runs, what will that do?”
“If you don’t think about the team, you don’t want those kind of players. Eleven people are playing, so, it is a team. Whatever the team’s need is, try to do that. This is my personal thinking. That is how I have played my cricket. That is how I am in life in general,” concluded Rohit.
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