"Ensuring They Weren't Stripped Of BCCI Contract?": Sunil Gavaskar Questions Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma's return to Ranji Trophy met absolute disappointment as the India Test skipper aggregated just 31 runs in two innings against Jammu & Kashmir. Rohit showed his attacking approach throughout the match, looking to take bowlers on, but the intent didn't reap the rewards Rohit intended, with his scores in the two innings reading only 3 and 28. Be it his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal, or other senior stars like Shreyas Iyer or Ajinkya Rahane, none of these big-name batters produced runs as Mumbai suffered an upsetting defeat against J&K.

It was another veteran star, Shardul Thakur, who set the stage on fire with a ton, though his score couldn't rescue Mumbai. As questions arose about the performances of senior stars like Rohit, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar asked some tough questions, taking a direct swipe at the attacking approach shown by the Hitman and others.

"Only Shardul Thakur, batting down the order, showed the gumption and desire to stick it out. But for his batting in both innings, the Mumbai score would have been embarrassing for a side filled with four Indian Test players in their top five. What Thakur and Tanush Kotian showed with their big partnership is that with a proper mix of caution and aggression, runs could be scored on the surface. The J&K batters also showed the same attitude and thus overhauled the target quite comfortably," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

"The dismissal of Mumbai's Test batters once again brought to the fore the perils of the all-out aggressive mode of batting that is nowadays thought of as being central to run-making. It can work on flat pitches, but on pitches where the ball is doing something, there has to be a technique good enough to keep out the good