IND vs AUS fifth Test: Kohli and Rohit are tough people with hunger, will decide what is best for Indian cricket, says Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir discusses Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and India's future in cricket during press conferences.

Twice over seven days, Gautam Gambhir has turned up for press-conferences. The first time, he did not commit on whether Rohit Sharma, the regular captain, would play. And during the second time he met the media at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in Sydney on Sunday (January 5, 2025), the Indian coach refused to reveal a clear road-map for seniors Rohit and Virat Kohli.

“I can’t talk about the future of any player, it’s up to them. But yes, they still have the hunger, they still have the passion, they are tough people and hopefully they can continue to take Indian cricket forward but ultimately as we all know, whatever they plan, they will plan for the best interest of Indian cricket,” Gambhir said.

When pressed about Rohit opting out of the fifth Test, Gambhir replied: “First of all, so many reports were written . We can be a little more sensible. If a leader has taken this decision, I don’t think there is any problem. We talked about accountability and that starts from the top and Rohit started that in the match.”

Reflecting on the series loss against Australia, Gambhir said: “I don’t want to say that because Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t there we couldn’t get the results. We had some moments and it would have been nice if he was there, but we still had five bowlers and a good team is one which is not dependent on one individual. We had our moments in this series. That last session in Melbourne, if we had played well and were at 1-1, the pressure on Australia would have been greater. Here in the second innings, if we left a target of 250 to 300, things would have been difficult.”

Gambhir drew heart from the performance of youngsters like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Kumar, Washington Sundar and Akash Deep. The coach termed Bumrah as ‘outstanding’ and praised Mohammed Siraj: “The attitude of Siraj was outstanding. I don’t remember a guy who has run in (hard) for every ball despite at times not being 100 per cent fit.”

The former India opener also batted for domestic cricket: “I would like everyone to play domestic cricket. If you don’t give importance to domestic cricket, you will never get the players you want in Test cricket.”