‘He could be out of the team’ - Sunil Gavaskar on whether Rohit Sharma will deliberately underperform to protest captaincy transition

With social media often turning the unusual or unthinkable into trending topics, the recent transfer of ODI captaincy from Shubman Gill to Rohit Sharma has sparked berserk speculations, with many suggesting that Rohit might underperform intentionally to burden Gill.

However, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has rubbished the theory, stating that no player would deliberately underperform when their own place in the team is at stake. This is especially true for Rohit, given all the discussions surrounding his future and potential participation in the 2027 World Cup.

"Over the years, a significant misconception among Indian cricket fans is that if a player is replaced as captain, he will attempt to undermine the new captain by not performing to the best of his ability. Nothing can be further from the truth, for the simple fact is that if a captain has been replaced and then doesn’t perform, he could be out of the team altogether. So, no player, however aggrieved he may feel at losing the captaincy, is ever going to underperform deliberately," Gavaskar wrote in his column for The Sportstar.

Gavaskar emphasised that both Virat Kohli and Rohit would do everything possible to ensure a smooth transition. Leading the Indian team is arguably one of the toughest jobs in cricket, and with such a massive fanbase, how Gill manages these experienced campaigners will be an intriguing development.

"With that misconception still going strong, many are questioning if young Shubman Gill will be able to handle two former captains, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who are part of the three-match One-Day International series against Australia. Gill has gone out of his way to say that his equation with them hasn’t changed simply because he is the captain now. If anything, he will only benefit by having these two stalwarts by his side. Both would be happy to offer suggestions if asked, and what could be better for a captain leading in this format for the first time than to have two of the greatest ODI players playing in his team?" wrote Gavaskar.