Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli once again failed to deliver when India needed them the most as the hosts suffered a dramatic collapse while chasing 148 on a tricky wicket on Day 3 of the third and final Test against New Zealand. Starting on overnight 171/9, New Zealand could add only three runs on Sunday morning, leaving Rohit Sharma’s men little under 150 runs to register first win of the series.
However, what followed left a lot of Indian fans and experts worried, considering India’s upcoming five-match Test series against Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy starting later this month. Rohit, who had failed in the first innings too, once again mishit at the hands of Glenn Phillips while Kohli’s struggle against left-arm spin continued.
Soon after, Rohit-Kohli’s flop show triggered a social media bashing with the netizens demanding Test retirement from the Indian batting greats and instead giving chances to promising youngsters like Sai Sudharsan and Abhimanyu Easwaran.
“Everyone talks about needing T20 specialists, but the same goes for Tests. Rohit & Kohli should start considering if it’s time to move on, as their peak may have passed. The best players know when to retire at their peak,” one user wrote.
Another user wrote “Really heartbreaking to see both the great cricketers are getting failed badly” while another pointed out, “The result of cricketers playing more IPL matches/T20s than domestic cricket/test is clearly visible.”
Even former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif minced no words in criticising the Indian duo. “Virat Kohli in this series has been clean bowled to a full toss and now this error of judgement to be run out. This needs to change if India needs to reach the WTC final," Kaif wrote on X.
Former India Test captain Anil Kumble too echoed Kaif. "You can't have this repeatedly happening in every game, so it's more than a concern at the moment. You had an opportunity to get inside with just one wicket down of Rohit Sharma. And then yes, Jaiswal gets out and the night watchman comes in and gets out first ball, then this (Kohli run-out)," Kumble had said at stumps on Day 1.
"Nobody expected the run-out. This was certainly not something that you expect of Virat Kohli getting run out in the last over or last few minutes of a day's play. And it was something that he just hit the shot and then went straight for a run, which is suicidal," he had added.
