Former Indian opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar has urged the Indian skipper to play all their One Day Internationals (ODIs) this year following the team’s series loss to Australia. Gavaskar’s comments come in the wake of the opener’s absence from the Mumbai fixture. Sharma missed the first ODI due to a family function, but despite his return for the next two games, he failed to impact the matches, as India lost both and, with it, the series.
According to Gavaskar, the captain of a cricket team should be entirely dedicated to their duties and be available for all games, with only emergencies allowing for family commitments to take priority.
“I think he needs to play every game. It is so important. You can’t have a captain who is there for one match and not there for the rest. It can happen to any other player but I think 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 have unless it’s an emergency. Emergency is something completely different.”
A team cannot have two leaders – Gavaskar
Gavaskar proclaimed that two captains in a team is not the ideal situation and explained:
“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.”
India had not lost a bilateral ODI series on home soil since March 2019 until now.
