Rohit Sharma deliberately underperformed under Shubman Gill in Perth? Indian legend makes shocking claim
Former cricketers have backed Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli after their failure in the first ODI in Australian conditions. Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, on the other hand, has quashed the misconceptions that have remained in Indian cricket over the years.
Just one loss for India in the series, and there has already been speculation that the veteran cricketers deliberately underperformed to make Shubman Gill lose matches out of desperation for the captaincy, from which they were snubbed.
These discussions surfaced earlier after Rohit Sharma stepped down from the ODI captaincy despite boasting a formidable record of 42 wins in 56 ODIs and unbeaten streaks in ICC tournaments like the 2023 World Cup and the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
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Sunil Gavaskar clears the air amid controversial claims of Rohit Sharma’s ‘deliberate underperformance’
Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar, while writing his column for Sportstar, mentioned the common misconception among Indians that a player might underperform below his best just to avenge his captaincy snub. However, the basics don’t knock anyone: once they are no longer captain, they could be abandoned if they fail to perform well.
“A major misconception among Indian cricket fans is that if a player is replaced as captain, he will try to undermine the new captain by not giving his best. Nothing could be further from the truth, because the simple fact is that if a captain has been replaced and is not performing, he could be dropped from the team altogether. So, no player, even if he feels aggrieved about losing the captaincy, will ever underperform deliberately. “
“With this misconception still strong, many are wondering 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 has not changed just because he is the captain now,” he continued.
“He will only benefit from having these two stalwarts on his side,” noted Sunil Gavaskar.
Although the first match of Shubman Gill’s career as an ODI skipper did not mark an absolutely stunning start for him, despite the presence of Indian stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, they are expected to bounce back stronger.
He believes that Gill, in the shadow of the two veterans, will benefit greatly as he will be able to gain immense experience from the two former skippers, who have played many times in Australian conditions.
“If anything, he will only benefit from having these two stalwarts in 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?” Gavaskar said.
The RO-KO Legacy is unrivaled for India
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are not only two greats of Indian cricket but are also the two greats of modern-day ODI cricket for this decade. They have built a legacy that remains unmatched and untouched by any other player in the world.
The two players combined to represent India in over 577 ODIs (many matches counted twice as they both featured in the XI) and scored 25,000 runs between them. They even posed challenges in front of each other at times, like Rohit Sharma’s tremendous record of three ODI double hundreds and the most hundreds for India in a single World Cup edition, and Virat Kohli’s record of over 50 ODI centuries.
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