India's head coach Gautam Gambhir finally spoke up on Sunday about the buzz surrounding captain Rohit Sharma's choice to "opt out" of the fifth match in the Border-Gavaskar series, as well as the whispers of unrest within the Indian team. His remarks came after India faced a six-wicket defeat in Sydney, allowing Australia to clinch the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in ten years.

Rohit managed to score only 31 runs during the Australian tour, playing five innings across three Tests and finishing with an average of 6.20, which is the lowest ever for a touring captain in Australia. This poor performance is part of a larger slump he's been in since September, where he accumulated just 164 runs at an average of a little over 10 in eight matches.

With increasing calls to drop the Indian skipper and speculation about a potential retirement following the Australian tour, Rohit chose to sit out the fifth Test to give a chance to in-form players. However, this decision led to a flurry of rumors about the Indian squad, including one suggesting that Gambhir was the one who sidelined Rohit in pursuit of a win in Sydney to keep hopes alive for the World Test Championship final. Another rumor hinted at a rift in the dressing room, suggesting that the captain and coach were not on the same page before the Sydney match.

When a captain or leader makes a decision…

After the series-deciding loss, Gambhir vented his frustration at the media during the press conference, urging for a bit more “sensibility” while praising Rohit for prioritizing the team in his decision-making.

“First off, I want to point out that there have been so many reports and comments flying around. It would be great if people could be a bit more sensible. When a captain or leader makes a decision with the team in mind, I don’t see anything wrong with that. Sure, there’s a lot of chatter, but at the end of the day, it’s about the team and the country. Players need to put the team before their own interests. Rohit Sharma really stepped up and took responsibility,” he stated.

Gambhir also refrained from blaming the loss in Sydney on stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah’s back injury that kept him from bowling in the second innings, even though he acknowledged that Bumrah was “absolutely outstanding” throughout the series.

“Sure, it would have been great to have him there, but we still had five bowlers. A strong team isn’t reliant on just one player,” he added.

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