NEW DELHI: Rohit Sharma faced wrath from fans and cricket pundits after he promoted himself to opening in the Boxing Day Test against Australia at MCG, a move that backfired miserably as the Indian captain's woeful run with the bat continued.
Rohit has struggled, making only 31 runs from five innings, with scores of 3, 6, 10, 3, and 9, resulting in a dismal average of 6.20 - the lowest by a touring captain on Australian soil.
Rohit's decision also led to KL Rahul being moved to number three, while Shubman Gill was dropped from the playing XI.
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Former India opener Aakash Chopra voiced his ire, highlighting that in the past, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli made bold decisions to try Rohit as an opener in ODIs and Tests, respectively, in an effort to revive his career.
"For the first time in his career, he has taken a call for himself. In the past, calls have been taken for him. MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli took calls for him to move him from middle-order to opener. Dhoni did in ODIs, Virat did in Tests because they wanted Rohit to fire," Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube show.
Chopra emphasised that Rohit's call was totally in his own interests and not in the team's since dropping Gill and relegating Rahul to number three were not advantageous for India.
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"For the first time, captain Rohit took a call and it was totally in his interests. It was not in the team's interests. Let's be very honest. It can't be in the team's interests because Rahul was opening very well. Shubman Gill did well in 2023, he is the second-highest run-scorer. He has played in tough situations also. He was looking good in Adelaide too. But, he had to be dropped from the team," he added.
"All this is because Rohit thought about himself, not in the best interests of the team. For the first time in his captaincy career. It didn't turn out fine. India were not able to draw," Chopra further said.
India suffered a 184-run drubbing by Australia in the fourth Test and now trail 1-2 in the five-match series with the last Test in Sydney starting on January 3.
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