Rohit Sharma should play for Mumbai in Ranji Trophy to regain form: Sunil Gavaskar
Legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar said that Rohit Sharma should play for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy to regain his touch. The 37-year-old Rohit had a disastrous outing in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy. After missing the Perth Test due to personal reasons, Rohit returned for the Day-Night Test at the Adelaide Oval, but could not find his feet.
In three Tests, Rohit scored only 31 runs at an average of 6.20 and a strike-rate of 28.18 with a top score of 10. In fact, in four out of five innings that he has batted in, Rohit failed to go past single digits. Gavaskar said that the Indian batter needs to play first-class matches to find his feet with the bat in hand.
Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Full Coverage
“Well, there are not much of four-day games that are available, but if there are some like the Ranji Trophy, if Mumbai do qualify for the knockout stages, he should be looking to play some matches,” Gavaskar told India Today in an exclusive interview.
“I know it’s a little bit unfair on some of the boys who’ve been playing in the initial and qualifying stages to make way for him. But in the larger interest of Indian cricket, I think if there is a spot for him to play, he should be doing that because that’s the one way that he will be giving himself time out in the middle,” Gavaskar said.
Gavaskar said that Rohit will only get his confidence back if he gets a big score under his belt after grinding hard for four to five hours in the middle.
“It’s not just about playing 15–20 overs or 35 overs in a 50-over game. It’s about batting for a whole day, batting for 4.5 and 5 hours, and getting a big score. That is what is going to give him confidence for the Test matches,” Gavaskar added.
Due to his poor run of form, Rohit also did not take part in the New Year’s Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground. As far as Mumbai are concerned, they are placed third in Elite Group A in the Ranji Trophy and will next face Jammu and Kashmir.
