India made the final of the ICC World Test Championship for the second time in a row but the mace remained elusive with the Rohit Sharma-led side suffering a big defeat to Australia.
The Indian team was criticised for their decision to exclude Ravichandran Ashwin from the playing XI aside from a sorry show from their batters.
The defeat also extended India’s wait for a first ICC title since winning the Champions Trophy in 2013.
Former India allrounder and head coach Ravi Shastri has advised the team management to no shy away from dropping seniors and start building for the future, asking them to learn from Australia.
However, Australia batting legend Michael Clarke wants India to remain stable especially with the ODI World Cup a few months away now. He’s against removing Rohit as the captain whose approach he finds ‘aggressive’ and ‘positive’.
“I would be keeping the faith with Rohit,” Clarke told Revsportz. “I think he’s a very good captain. I like his aggressive approach, he looks to be as positive as he can be. He has had a lot of success as a leader. Look at his IPL record.”
Clarke says India should look at the bigger picture and not just focus on the fact that they lost a one-off WTC final.
The former Australia captain said that the fact India made it to consecutive WTC finals means they have been the most consistent Test team in the past four years.
“Just because India didn’t win the Test World Championship doesn’t mean Rohit is not the right guy to lead India. The fact that India qualified again, they are the only team to make consecutive finals, says a lot about how they have played their Test cricket over the past four years. It is also a very important time for stability with the One-Day World Cup right around the corner,” Clarke said.
Clarke pointed out how Rohit led India to series win over Australia at home earlier this year reminding of his superb century in the opening Test in Nagpur when others struggled to get going.
“Since taking over as captain, he has won you a Test series against Australia at home. He has done well as a batter as well. Think of his hundred in the last series. Losing a one-off final doesn’t make him a bad captain, nor does it make India a bad team,” Clarke said.
“To make consecutive finals isn’t easy. What it means is that India was the only team to play consistently well over a period of four years. To do so in Test cricket is commendable, and I would urge you to look at that as well before making any kind of judgment call,” he added
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