India’s 3-1 series loss to Australia has raised questions over the
futures of two of the team’s struggling statesmen — Rohit Sharma and
Virat Kohli — but head coach Gautam Gambhir insisted that the duo’s
future plans are entirely their call and the decision to retire or not
lies with the players themselves.

Both Rohit and Virat have been going through a lean patch in Tests and
failed to make any impact in the five-match Border-Gavaskar series.
Rohit missed the first match due to the birth of his second child and
returned to scores of 3, 6, 10, 3, 9 across the three Tests in
Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne. He eventually decided to opt out of
the Sydney Test, handing over the captaincy to Jasprit Bumrah.

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Similarly, Kohli also struggled, scoring just 5 runs in the first
innings in Perth before showing signs of returning to form with a
much-awaited unbeaten century in the second innings. But he failed to
capitalise on the momentum in the rest of the series and ended up with
scores of 7, 11, 3, 36, 5, 17, and 6 while continuing with his
struggles outside the off-stump.

Speaking about his two senior-most players in the post-match press
conference, Gambhir left the big decision to them.

“I can’t talk about the future of any player. It’s up to them as
well,” Gambhir said.

“But yes, what I can say is that they still have the hunger. They
still have the passion. They’re 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,” he added.

Gambhir, who had himself gone through a phase late in his career where
he was out of form but battling to make the team, insisted that the
most important thing about a player is his contribution to the side’s
success.