If I was coach, Rohit would have played Sydney Test: Shastri
New Delhi:Former India head coach Ravi Shastri said he would have ensured Rohit Sharma, who recently announced his retirement from Test cricket, had taken the field for the final Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test against Australia in Sydney earlier this year.
Last week, Rohit ended his Test cricket with 4,301 runs in 67 matches at an average of 40.57, including 12 centuries and a career-best score of 212. As India's Test captain from 2022, Rohit led the team in 24 Tests and won on 12 occasions, including the side becoming runners-up in the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) final.
But a poor run of form since September last year meant Rohit's Test career was in a tricky situation. In the home series against Bangladesh and New Zealand, Rohit was able to cross the 50-run mark only once, while averaging only 10.93.
After missing the first Test in Perth due to the birth of his son, Rohit came back to play in the next three Tests, but scored just 31 runs. That poor run resulted in Rohit, 38, sitting out of the final Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test at the SCG in January.
'I saw Rohit a lot at the toss (during an IPL match). At the toss, you don't get enough time to speak. Though I did put my hand on his shoulder in one of the games. I think it was in Mumbai, and I told him, if I were the coach, you would have never not played that last Test match.
'You would have played that last Test match because the series wasn't over. And I'm not someone who threw in the towel with the scoreline 2-1. If your mindset is you feel you are… that's not the stage, you leave a team,' said Shastri on The ICC Review show.
With the series poised at 2-1 at that time, Shastri further elaborated why Rohit should have played the Test match in Sydney. 'That was a 30-40 run game. And that's exactly what I told him. The pitch was so spicy in Sydney. Whatever kind of form he was in, he's a match-winner.
'If he had gone, sensed the situation, sensed the condition and smashed it for even 35-40 at the top, you never know. That series would have been level. But that's each one to his own. Other people have different styles. This would have been my style and I let him know it. It's sitting in my heart for a long time. I had to get it out. And I told him that.'
On Kohli's retirement, he had no second thoughts, no regrets—only a calm resolve that the time had come. 'There were one or two questions I asked, but what stood out was the clarity in his voice,' said Shastri. 'The mind had told the body that it's time to go.'
'If he decided to do something, he gave it 100%,' said Shastri. 'But when you're that involved—it's as if he had to take every wicket, catch every ball, make every decision—it eventually leads to burnout.'
While the decision was shocking to most, the reasons were not hard to understand.
The spotlight on Kohli has always been blinding. Whether it was his animated celebrations in Australia or his animated confrontations in England, Kohli polarised audiences—and united fans.
Shastri acknowledged that the pressure of being the face of Indian cricket for more than a decade had finally caught up.
'He's got a bigger following than any cricketer in the last decade,' said Shastri. 'He brought people to stadiums. Whether it was Australia or South Africa, his presence alone elevated the game. There was a love-hate relationship—people admired him, feared him, and even got annoyed with him. But they could never ignore him.'
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