Tourists went down 3-1 in the series after losing the fifth test by six wickets
\n SYDNEY
\nIndia coach Gautam Gambhir said veteran batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli still have a future in the team if they want it, despite disappointing returns on the test tour of Australia.
\nThe tourists went down 3-1 in the series after losing the fifth Test by six wickets on Sunday to relinquish the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade.
\nRegular Test captain Rohit was rested for the match at his own request after poor returns in the second, third and fourth matches, while Kohli made 17 and six in his two innings in Sydney.
\n\u201cI can\u2019t talk about the future of any player, it\u2019s up to them as well,\u201d Gambhir said.
\n\u201cWhat I can say is that they still have the hunger, they still have the passion. They are tough people, and hopefully they can continue to take Indian cricket forward.
\n\u201cBut ultimately, whatever they plan, they will plan for the best interests of Indian cricket.\u201d
\nGambhir was loathe to blame the Sydney defeat on stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah\u2019s inability to bowl in the second innings because of a back complaint, even if he said the fast bowler had been \u201cabsolutely outstanding\u201d over the rest of the series.
\n\u201cIt would have been nice if he would have been there, but we still had five bowlers, and a good team is one which is not dependent on one individual,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t get the result, as simple as that. We lost the series.\u201d
\nIndia managed only two centuries over the five matches and Gambhir said his batters needed to develop better application in the test arena.
\n\u201cI think everything boils down to the temperament,\u201d he said. \u201cEverything boils down to how much you want to play those tough moments, how much you want to grind in test cricket.
\n\u201cI feel that that is one issue that we need to probably look after. How can we convert those 20s, 30s, or 40s into big hundreds, not only hundreds, but big hundreds, and set the game for our bowlers?\u201d
\nGambhir gave short shrift to Australian accusations that his players had intimidated teenage opener Sam Konstas in the last two matches of the series.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a tough sport played by tough men,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can\u2019t be that soft, as simple as it can get. I don\u2019t think there was anything intimidating about it.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think we need to make a lot of big issues about it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tourists went down 3-1 in the series after losing the fifth test by six wickets SYDNEY India coach Gautam Gambhir said veteran batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli still have a future in the team if they want it, despite disappointing returns on the test tour of Australia. The tourists went down 3-1 in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453770,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-453748","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n