'Family commitments should take backseat now,' Gavaskar lashes out at Rohit Sharma and co.

IND vs AUS: India captain Rohit Sharma didn't play the first ODI vs Australia at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai due to family commitments. Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya led Team India in his absence and later the team won the match by five wickets. The Indian team restricted the Aussies to a low score bowling first in Mumbai but later suffered a batting collapse before KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja rescued them and took their team over the line. 

Former India batsman Sunil Gavaskar believes that India captain Rohit Sharma should avoid taking up breaks due to family commitments as there is a big ODI World Cup about to happen later this year. 

Gavaskar said: 'I think he needs to play every game'

While speaking to Star Sports Sunil Gavaskar said, “I think he needs to play every game. You can’t have a captain who is there for one match and not there for the rest. It is so important. It can happen to any other player but I think and I know it was a family commitment, so he had to be there. That’s understandable."

“When it comes to the World Cup, you can’t have a family commitment; it’s as simple as that. Maybe before that, finish everything that you haven't done unless it’s an emergency. An emergency is something completely different", Gavaskar added. 

“You need continuity in leadership. There’s a feeling that you have got everybody with you, otherwise, there are two leaders. Then there are two leaders that the team is looking at", Gavaskar said. 

Rohit Sharma guided the Indian team to a 2-1 victory over Australia in the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. Rohit was not able to avoid the 2-1 defeat in the three-match ODI series further as the Indian team lost both matches in Visakhapatnam and Chennai after winning the first match in Mumbai. 

With the ODI World Cup 2023 ahead this is a matter of concern for the Indian team as in the whole series none of the batsmen were able to score big runs and the few who got starts didn't convert them into half-century or hundreds. 

Australia, on the other hand, has made a statement to world cricket and have indicated that they are capable to win the World Cup 2023 for a record sixth time.