‘I Expected More From Him’

Cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar launched a scathing attack on the Indian men’s team and captain Rohit Sharma over a number of issues ranging from the lack of titles to fitness woes in the current squad.

Gavaskar said that he was disappointed with Rohit’s captaincy and also the coaching staff’s lack of accountability after the recent defeats.

Rohit was expected to deliver trophies for the national team but the opposite has happened since he took over the captaincy in all formats from Virat Kohli.

Team India crashed out in the semifinals of the T20 World Cup last year and lost the ICC World Test Championship final against Australia in England earlier this year.

“I expected more from him (Rohit). In India it is different, but when you do well overseas that is really the test. That is where he has been a little disappointing.

“Even in the T20 format, with all the experience of the IPL, hundreds of matches as captain, with a mix of best IPL players not being able to get to the finals has been disappointing,” Gavaskar told The Indian Express.

Gavaskar accused senior India players of avoiding practice games

Gavaskar, who turned 74 on Monday (July 10), also lashed out at the Indian team’s lack of preparation before important Test assignments such as the WTC final in England in June.

The cricketer-turned-commentator accused the senior players in the team of not wanting to leave early for big tours and their lack of interest in playing practice matches before series.

Rohit Sharma had said after the WTC defeat that it would have helped them if the team reached England 20-25 days prior to the final but Gavaskar said even if that had been the case, the squad wouldn’t have played any warm-up games.

‘Main guys do not want to go early’ on tours: Sunil Gavaskar

“What kind of preparation are we talking about? Now they have gone to the West Indies. You have the example of the World Test Championship before you. Are you playing any matches? So what is this talk about 20-25 days? … When you talk about preparation, be genuine about it. Go 15 days before, play two warm-up matches.

“The truth is the main guys do not want to go early. Because they know that come what may, they will get selected. And when you go early they will talk about the workload. You call yourself the fittest team in the world or fitter than the early generations then how do you break down so soon? How do you have a workload issue when you play a 20-over game?” Gavaskar said.