"The captain needs to play the first test" Sunil Gavaskar suggests naming new skipper for BGT if Rohit Sharma misses Perth test

Rohit Sharma is likely to miss the first test against Australia in Perth.

Former India captain and legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar has opined that Rohit Sharma should fly to Australia only as a player and not captain if he will miss the first or the first two tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25. Gavaskar suggests naming a different skipper for the entire tour if the regular captain is not available for the start of the series for reasons other than injury.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 will get underway on November 22 in Perth. Rohit, the Indian test captain, is likely to miss the first test of the five-match series due to personal reasons; in fact, he could even miss the second test, a day-night fixture in Adelaide from December 6.

While the BCCI has not made it official yet and named Rohit as the captain in their squad announcement, Rohit confirmed that he is not sure about featuring in the Perth test.

After the end of the home series against New Zealand, which India lost 3-0, Sharma said he “wasn’t too sure if I’ll be going to [Perth]. But let’s see. Fingers crossed.”

Indian cricket is the most important: Sunil Gavaskar

Gavaskar has made strong views on Rohit’s captaincy for the Australia series. The 75-year-old reckons the selectors should name the vice-captain, Jasprit Bumrah, as the skipper for the entire series Down Under if Rohit misses the first or the first two tests due to personal reasons, especially in the light of the home whitewash to New Zealand.

Speaking on Sports Tak, Gavaskar said, “See, the captain needs to play the first Test. If he is injured, then it’s different. But if your leader is unavailable in the first battle, then a different kind of pressure mounts on the deputy leader. It wouldn’t be easy if he had to take the responsibility of captaincy. You need to have clarity. The leader needs to be there for his team, especially when we have lost 0-3 against New Zealand.”

“We have been reading that Rohit Sharma will not play in the first Test, perhaps he will not play in the second as well. If this is the case, then I say that, right now, the Indian selection committee should say that ‘if you have to rest, rest, if there are personal reasons then look at them. But if you are missing two-thirds of the matches then you should go for this tour only as a player. We will make the vice-captain the captain of this tour’

“Indian cricket is the most important. I would say that if we had won the New Zealand series 3-0, it would have been a different matter. Because we have lost this series 0-3, there is a need for a captain. The captain has to unite the team. If there is no captain in the beginning, it is better to make someone else the captain,“ the former opener concluded.

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