Sydney: India coach Gautam Gambhir said veteran batsmen Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli still have a future in the team if they want it, despite disappointing returns on the Test tour in Australia.
The tourists went down 3-1 in the series after losing the fifth Test by six wickets on Sunday to vacate the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade.
Regular Test captain Rohit was rested for the match at his request after poor returns in the second, third and fourth matches, while Kohli made 17 and a six in his two innings in Sydney.
“I can’t talk about any player’s future, it’s up to them too,” Gambhir said.
“What I can say is that they are still hungry, they still have passion. They are strong people, and I hope they can continue to take Indian cricket forward.”
“But in the end, whatever they plan, they will plan in the best interests of Indian cricket.”
Gambhir was loathe to blame Sydney’s defeat on stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah’s inability to bowl in the second half due to a back complaint, even as he said the fast bowler was “absolutely outstanding” during the rest of the series.
“It would have been nice to have been there, but we still have five bowlers, and a good team is a team that doesn’t depend on one individual,” he said.
“We didn’t get the result that simple. We lost the series.”
India managed just two centuries across the five matches and Gambhir said his batsmen need to develop better application in the Test arena.
“I think it all boils down to mood,” he said. “It all boils down to how much you want to play those tough moments, how much you want to grind in Test cricket.
“I feel like that’s one of the issues we probably need to pay attention to. How can we turn 20s, 30s or 40s into big hundreds, and not just hundreds, big hundreds, and define the game for our bowlers?”
Gambhir did not ignore Australian accusations that his players bullied teenage opener Sam Konstas in the final two matches of the series.
“It’s a tough sport played by tough guys,” he said. “You can’t be so soft and simple. I don’t think there’s anything scary about it.
“I don’t think we need to raise a lot of big issues about this.”