T20 World Cup 2021: I Don't Know If It Is A Fear Of Failure – Sunil Gavaskar On Demotion Of Rohit Sharma And Virat Kohli In The Batting Order

Legendary Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar has criticised India’s decision to demote skipper Virat Kohli and vice-captain Rohit Sharma in the batting order in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 high-profile clash against New Zealand at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, on Sunday.

Rohit Sharma, who is unarguably one of the best modern-day openers, didn’t open the innings for India in the ICC T20 World Cup clash against New Zealand, instead of Ishan Kishan, who came in as a replacement for Suryakumar Yadav opened the innings with KL Rahul. Notably, Rohit Sharma came out to bat at number 3 and Kohli, who usually bats at 3, came one position down at number 4.

Talking about the demotion of Indian captain and vice-captain and promotion of young Ishan Kishan at the top order, Gavaskar said:

“I don’t know if it is a fear of failure but I know that whatever changes they made to the batting order today did not work. Rohit Sharma is such a great batsman and he has been sent in at No.3. Kohli himself, who has made so many runs at No.3 demotes himself to No.4. A young player like Ishan Kishan has been given the responsibility of opening the batting,” 

Gavaskar further termed Ishan Kishan as a hit-or-miss player and said that he shouldn’t have opened the inning for India. He elaborated:

“Ishan Kishan is a hit-or-miss player and it is better if a batsman like him walks in No.4 or No.5. He could then play according to the situation of the game. Now what has happened is that Rohit Sharma has been told that we don’t trust you to face the left-arm fast bowling of Trent Boult.

“If you do that to a player who has been playing at a position for so many years, he himself will think that maybe he doesn’t have the ability. If Ishan Kishan had made 70-odd runs we would have applauded. But when the ploy doesn’t work, you are going to be criticised,” 

Decision To Demote Rohit Sharma Was Wrong – Madan Lal

Former India all-rounder Madan Lal was disappointed with the performance of Indian batters as they managed to score only 110 runs batting first. He also said that the decision to demote Rohit Sharma was very wrong, However, Lal opined that the decision may not have entirely been the captain’s decision with the presence of mentor MS Dhoni and coach Ravi Shastri.

“It is unfortunate because India have looked more impatient than they normally do in both these matches. If you don’t make runs then you won’t come into the match. A target of 111 can be defended only if a miracle happens. India were outclassed in both the matches. In this format if you don’t get in front early, it becomes difficult,” said Lal said on Sports Tak

“Many a times there are decisions that the captain simply has to take and the decision to demote Rohit Sharma was wrong. He has been playing for so many years at the top but now the entire battling order changes,” he said.

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