Rohit Sharma vs Gautam Gambhir: Reports suggest of a divide in the Indian team

New Delhi: The backdoor politics of Indian cricket is becoming explicitly visible now to outside people. Former Pakistan batter Basit Ali has criticised the Indian team management amid the ongoing third Test against Australia. Basit suggested that head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma are not on the same page.

 

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Rohit has been under immense scrutiny lately due to the constant failures in captaincy and lack of discipline in batting. Now, there are growing concerns that there might be a difference of opinion between Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma which can fracture the relationship between the coach and the captain.

Rohit Sharma scores in the last 10 innings

• 10 (27)
• 3 (23)
• 6 (15)
• 11 (11)
• 18 (18)
• 0 (9)
• 8 (16)
• 2 (16)
• 52 (63)
• 23 (11)

Even Basit Ali saw this imminent divide and addressed it on his YouTube Channel

Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir are not on the same page, be it the one-day tournament in Sri Lanka; Bangladesh, which was a weak series; or the New Zealand series after that. In the second and third (Tests), they (Rohit and Gambhir) are not on the same page, as Rahul Dravid was. He and Rohit were not on the same page…

Basit also criticised veteran spinner Ravindra Jadeja’s inclusion in the team for the ongoing Test, questioning the logic behind the same. Ali said that with three left-handers on the side, there was no rationale behind playing Jadeja when the team has a more experienced spinner in the form of Ravichandran Ashwin who is more suited to the condition and the type of batter.

Jadeja's fine knock comes to an end on 77!

Live – https://t.co/dVDZu4kbfX… #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/SbjQqzXuYB

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 17, 2024

Basit also highlighted India’s over-reliance on Bumrah and the lack of left-arm pace bowling options as the concerning factors behind the team’s struggles to counter Travis Head’s onslaught.

Currently, India is 242/9 in response to Australia’s mammoth total of 445 runs in the first innings.