Sunil Gavaskar slams Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer after dismal show in Ranji Trophy: 'They did that only to...'

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar didn’t hold back his criticism of Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer following Mumbai’s five-wicket defeat to Jammu and Kashmir in their penultimate Ranji Trophy group match. Both players struggled with the bat in a match that ended Mumbai’s hopes, with Rohit managing scores of 3 and 28, while Iyer could only manage 11 and 17.

Gavaskar questions intent of Rohit and Iyer

In his column for Sportstar, Sunil Gavaskar questioned the intent of the two senior players and their approach to batting on a pitch that offered some movement. While Mumbai’s top-order batters were struggling to handle the conditions, both Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer seemed to take an aggressive approach, which Gavaskar felt was misplaced.

“The dismissal of Mumbai’s Test batters once again brought to the fore the perils of the all-out aggressive mode of batting that is nowadays thought of as being central to run-making. It can work on flat pitches, but on pitches where the ball is doing something, there has to be a technique good enough to keep out the good delivery,” Gavaskar wrote.

He further reflected on the growing trend of aggressive batting, pointing to a recent example from India’s Test series against Australia in Sydney, where similar aggressive shots led to unnecessary dismissals.

“There are more chances of a dismissal while looking to play in a manner that one is not used to, as was seen in the recent Sydney Test [between India and Australia] when rushes of blood caused some silly-looking dismissals. A bit of common sense and patience, rather than a fatalistic approach, could have gotten another 50 runs, and that could well have altered the result of the match and the series,” he added.

Gavaskar also questioned whether the two players were genuinely invested in the match or whether they were simply looking to secure their place in the BCCI’s good books, referencing last year’s controversy where players like Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were omitted from the national squad for missing Ranji Trophy games.

Gavaskar also commented on the inclusion of Rohit and Yashasvi Jaiswal, which led to young Ayush Mhatre, who had been in good form with a couple of centuries and fifties, being dropped from the team.

“Whether their hearts were in it or they did that only to ensure they were not stripped of their BCCI contracts, like Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were, after missing out on the Ranji Trophy games last year, is known only to them. Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s participation meant that Ayush Mhatre, who had got a couple of hundreds and some fifties, had to be left out of the Mumbai side. Hopefully, the youngster would have spent some time with both these players and picked their brains about adding to his batting ability,” he said.