Rohit Sharma was the stand-in captain during India’s victorious Asia Cup campaign last month. (Express photo by Kevin DSouza)
Rohit Sharma, who spoke about how he as a captain doesn’t like chopping and changing and wants ‘everyone to be feeling safe and settled”, would get a chance to sit next to Virat Kohli and speak his mind during performance appraisal of India team on Wednesday in Hyderabad. Initially, only Kohli, Ravi Shastri the coach and chairman of selectors MSK Prasad were invited by the Supreme Court appointed Committee of Adminstrators (COA) but Rohit and Ajinkya Rahane, the Test vice captain, have been asked to join as well.
The Indian Express understand that frequent chops and changes in the Indian team would be on top of the COA’s agenda for the meeting. Also, the question of whether the selection committee should be a part of the panel that decides final XI is also likely to come up. It is learnt COA wants selectors to be part of selection process so that the selectors can put their view across when picking the final eleven. The board feels that without that kind of input and say, there is no point in selectors travelling with the team.
During the Asia Cup when he was the captain Rohit had talked about his vision for the team. “Nobody likes to be dropped and brought back into the squad. We want everyone to be feeling safe and settled, so that they can play freely. As a captain or player, you want your team to be settled and even the guys who are eyeing that spot want to be settled.”
It was said in respect to the one-day international team but it would be interesting if he is asked about the Test team as well. One of the reasons critics pointed out was behind India’s debacle overseas in Tests was the lack of confidence in the team by the numerous changes that Kohli-led management had effected.
During the England tour, this newspaper had reported how some senior players in the team were affected by the frequent changes. “It would have been better if they had said at the start of the tour, ‘guys we will go with the same team for the first three Tests. Do your best’. That gives a different kind of confidence. Kohli wants the best for the team and doesn’t mean to create it but the changes make you doubt yourself. It’s our mistake to feel like that probably but we are humans,” a senior player had told this newspaper.
Another senior player had then talked about the vicious mental cycle triggered by the changes. “You start to second guess … you then start feeling you are on your own here.”
Post the tour, more problems came out in the open. Karun Nair, who was picked ahead of Rohit Sharma in the Test team, had talked about how neither the team nor the selectors communicated with him. It was denied by the selectors later. Similarly, M Vijay, who was dropped mid way during England series, has also spoken about better communication from the selectors.
The COA will ask players on what can be done to improve overseas performance especially in Test cricket. The Indian team did well in shorter format of the game but when it came to Test they have been poor travellers. India lost the three-Test series in South Africa 2-1 earlier this year before getting a 4-1 hiding in England. Shastri, though, had publically backed his team, even saying that this team was better than some of the predecessors over the past 15-20 years.
“I can’t see any other Indian team in the last 15-20 years that has had the same run in such a short time, and you have had some great players playing in those series. So the promise is there, and it’s just about getting tougher mentally. You have got to hurt when you lose matches because that’s when you look within and come out with the right kind of answers to combat such situations and get past the finishing line. One day you will if you believe,” the head coach had said during the England series.