Sunil Gavaskar sheds light on Rohit Sharma’s decision to replace KL Rahul as opener in 4th Test at MCG

Legendary Sunil Gavaskar reckons it wasn’t a prudent decision from Rohit Sharma to promote himself as opener and replace KL Rahul in the fourth Test match of the Border-Gavaskar trophy at the iconic MCG. India lost seven wickets in the final session of the last day’s play and suffered an 184-run loss on Monday.

While Rahul returned with scores of 26, 77, 7, 37, and 84 in the first three Test matches, Rohit registered scores of 3, 6, and 10 in the three innings before the penultimate Test.

Gavaskar advocated that if Rohit had scored a fifty while batting at number six at Adelaide and Brisbane, his decision to bat up the order would have made more sense. 

Rohit could not deliver as an opener as he scored 3 and 9 at MCG whereas Rahul scored 24 and 0 while batting at number three.

“There should be a good reason for it and I feel it wasn’t a good reason. If Rohit Sharma had scored 40-50 runs in the Brisbane or Adelaide Test, you could have said that he had got his rhythm and could return to his number. However, that was not the case,” Sunil Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

“Forget a fifty, if he had batted for one-and-a-half to two hours in the Brisbane Test and scored 30-40 runs at No. 6, you could have said that the successful pair could be disturbed. Yes, I agree it was successful only in the second innings in Perth but it wasn’t Rahul’s mistake, Yashasvi Jaiswal had gotten out there. Rahul batted very well in all three matches,” Gavaskar observed.

On the other hand, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan concurred with Sunny Gavaskar and said he wouldn’t want the opening alliance of KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal to be altered.

“I was saying before this match started that I wouldn’t want to see KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s opening partnership being changed. There are a lot of things involved in that. It includes the current form, especially overseas. It’s not that easy overseas,” he said.

“In India, you take some rest and return and do the adjustment. Here, you need to see who is leaving the balls better and has a better idea. That’s why I was repeatedly advocating that you need to keep in mind that KL Rahul’s place shouldn’t change,” Pathan observed.

The fifth and final Test match between Australia and India will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground from January 3 onwards.