Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma face heat for R Ashwin’s retirement; Virat Kohli wouldn’t have let that happen
Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has slammed Team India captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Gautam Gambhir for allowing the off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to retire after the third Test against Australia. He mentioned that the decision-makers should have urged the veteran to continue for the remaining two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
The former Pakistan cricketer feels that if Virat Kohli were leading the team in the ongoing five-Test series, he would have convinced R Ashwin to remain with the squad till the conclusion of the tour.
“I saw what he said during the press conference and it looked like that he didn’t say all the things. I am sure that Virat Kohli wouldn’t have let this happen midway through the series if he was the captain,” he said.
Washington Sundar was preferred over Ravichandran Ashwin in the series opener; while he replaced Sundar for the pink ball Test, Ashwin was dropped for the third contest to make way for the star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.
Ashwin picked up a wicket at the Adelaide Oval and scored 22 and 7. He picked up 765 scalps across formats in international cricket. The 38-year-old amassed six hundreds and 14 half-centuries in red-ball cricket.
“Ravichandran Ashwin should have taken retirement after the New Zealand series. I think Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma made a wrong decision by letting Ashwin retire after three Tests. They should have spoken with him and made him understand that the team needs him for these two Test,” Basit Ali added.
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