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Sanjay Manjrekar said Rohit Sharma must have felt the need to ‘clear the air’ about who should get the ‘credit’ for his dropping.
Gautam Gambhir (left) and Rohit Sharma.
Sanjay Manjrekar feels one of the reasons why Rohit Sharma did his curious interview in the middle of the Sydney Test was because he ‘wanted to set the record straight’. He said until that interview, head coach Gautam Gambhir was getting ‘all the credit’ for the ‘brave’ call of dropping Rohit for the match, which the skipper felt he needed to clarify.
Contrasting reports floated around in India before the Test. While some said Rohit had ‘opted out’ of the Test, others said he was dropped by the management due to poor form (31 runs in three Tests). Rohit spoke to Star Sports during the second day of the Test, saying that he had opted out and was not going to retire anytime soon.
“But there was also another reason why he was doing that interview. To clear the air. Somewhere I think Gambhir was getting all the credit for a brave call by leaving Rohit Sharma out. He wanted to set the record straight. Let’s be honest,” Manjrekar said, as quoted by India Today.
India ended up losing the Test by six wickets and the series 3-1.
‘Respect the hierarchy, however big you are’: Sanjay Manjrekar
Speaking further, Manjrekar said though he loved the start of the interview, he had a ‘problem’ with players saying that their playing career was in their hands. He said cricketers should respect the hierarchy and those in the job to make a call on whether they’d play or not.
“I loved that interview. That first bit where he said, I couldn’t have another out-of-form batter in the XI, and that’s why he opted out. But there were some other emotions too. One thing that a lot of players say is that ‘I will decide my future’. I have a problem with that. You can decide your future with regards to retirement, but somebody else has got the job to decide your future as a player and captain.”
“That’s the chairman of selectors. You have got to respect the hierarchy, however big you are. If the chairman of selectors is strong and he believes in the long-term health of Indian cricket, he has the power to decide whether your career should end now, or you get a few more matches, or one more series. Retirement is in your hands, but playing for India is not,” he said.
