‘Well-wishers’ changed Rohit Sharma’s stance of retiring from Test cricket: Reports

Leading newspaper Times of India has come out with a blockbuster report on Saturday. According to the newspaper, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma had decided to retire from Test cricket after the Melbourne Test match. Team India lost the game by 184 runs to go 2-1 down in the series before eventually losing the series. 

One BCCI source who spoke to the Times of India said, “Rohit had made his mind after MCG. Had his well-wishers from outside didn’t force him to change his mind, we could have very well seen another retirement in Australia.” Veteran Indian spinner R. Ashwin had called time on his international career post the Brisbane Test match. 

After scoring just 31 runs from five innings, Rohit Sharma decided to opt out of the Sydney Test match. This raised speculation that the 37-year-old could step away from Test cricket. Jasprit Bumrah, who was named the captain for the game, later revealed during the toss that the decision to opt out was made by Rohit himself. 

Sanjay Manjrekar slams veteran duo in latest rant 

Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar slammed Indian veteran duo Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for their latest bad performances. The 59-year-old wrote in his column for Hindustan Times and called ‘Hero worhip’ as the main reason behind India’s recent losses in Test cricket. 

Manjrekar wrote, “The one foremost reason behind this is the icon culture we have in India and the hero worship of certain players. Be it 2011-12 or now, it’s the same scenario that gets played out." Manjrekar had been critical of both Rohit and Virat Kohli after the pair failed to do well during the recent Border Gavaskar Trophy series. 

The former India batter also opined, “Iconic players featuring prominently doing the opposite of what they did their entire careers, thereby dragging the team down with their diminished performances. When it comes to the big players, we as a country are just not able to stay rational.”

“Cricketing logic goes out of the window, and then the selectors hope the player leaves on his own so that they don’t look like the villains who brutally ended the career of a great who millions of fans worship. They just fear the backlash,” Sanjay Manjrekar also added in his column for Hindustan Times.