India captain Shubman Gill claims that senior player Rohit Sharma has not discussed his international future with him, a topic of considerable conjecture over the previous several days.
Rumors had circulated that Sunday’s third ODI at Lord’s would be Rohit’s final for India, despite the fact that he scored a spectacular century in a losing effort. However, Devajit Saikia, secretary of the BCCI, made a categorical rejection.
Even though the team lost by 27 runs, the 39-year-old Rohit, who currently only plays in the 50-over format, eventually silenced his detractors by becoming the first and oldest Indian hitter to record an ODI century at Lord’s.
Gill was asked if he had received any indications regarding his future from the “Hitman.”
“I mean, we have not had a chance (to speak to him). He’s (Rohit) not told us anything. I think it’s all out in the media. But there has not been any discussion like that,” PTI quoted Gill as saying in the post-match press conference.
Gill praised Rohit’s 138 off 110 balls and the way he paced his innings, which included five sixes and 17 fours.
“I think the way Rohit bhai paced the innings, it was great. Most of the time I was on the non-striker end watching. The conversation was mostly that if we keep the wickets in hand, then only there will be a chance to chase such a big score.
“In Powerplay, we were talking that whether to go to hit or not, but we have seen that hitting with a new ball is not that easy. I think the way he paced his innings, and then the way he accelerated after reaching 70, it was great to see,” he said.
Gill and coach Gautam Gambhir drew a lot of flak for neglecting Kuldeep Yadav across all three games whereas England deployed different spinners to fantastic effect.
Asked why Kuldeep wasn’t played, Gill admitted that in hindsight, it felt that two spinners could have been played on this surface.
“So the matches that we played prior to this, we had seen the wickets get a little bit slower. When we were bowling and when Axar bhai was bowling, it didn’t look like the wicket will get that slow, but when they (England) came into bowl, it did look like the wicket got a tad bit slower as the game went on,” Gill said.
The India skipper also claimed that whenever Indian spinners bowled, it felt as if they were going on the defensive.
“Whenever spinners came in to bowl, we felt like we kind of had to go into defensive the route whenever the fast bowlers were bowling, it felt like something was happening. And that was the thought process behind not playing an extra spinner,” he reasoned.
