Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are the two star players in the Indian team who are currently failing to deliver the big runs during Test matches. Their batting has been so poor that questions are now being raised about their places in the team. Both men couldn’t cross that 100-mark in the past three-match Test series played between India and New Zealand at home during October to November, and again failed to impress in the last Test played against Australia at Adelaide Oval from December 6 to 8, which allowed a spate of criticism from many quarters as concerns was raised for both.
Many fans and former greats feel that now is the time for India to move beyond these two in the Test format. Adding to speculation on the future of the star duo is Greg Chappell, the former head coach for India, who believes that it’s more a task of the selectors than players on when they retire from the game.
Chappell spoke to reporters in Adelaide after India’s 10-wicket defeat against Australia in the day-night Test, saying: “You know yourself whether you’re at your peak or not. But they love playing the game. They want to play it as long as they can, and they have every reason, every right to want to go as long as they can. That’s why you need good, robust selection policies and selection panels to make those tough decisions.”.
“This is why you need robust selection panels and policies,” adding, “It’s not up to the players necessarily to make those decisions. They might want to make that decision. But it’s a well-paid job. Who’s going to walk away from it? Someone else has to make that decision. That’s why you need robust selection panels and policies.”
Is the explanation behind why the Aussie legend was asked how difficult it was to speak with other players, such as Kohli and Rohit, about their future? In response to that, Chappell said cricket boards needed to hire “good selectors” who would face those “tough conversations.”
“Very difficult. You really need selector personalities who are ready to have tough conversations and hear it out with the players. That basically depends on all the people concerned-and their relationships in a room. But all of us put in there, into that room, so much goes through it, everyone that plays at that level: up, down as a player or even up and down. If you have good players, you like to give them a few too many rather than too few.”