Rohit's hunger to play Test cricket must reflect in his actions: Bangar

New Delhi, Jan 7 Former India coach Sanjay Bangar feels that India captain Rohit Sharma, who is enduring a lean patch in Test cricket, has to show his hunger for runs in his actions to continue playing the red-ball format.

The 37-year-old opted out of the fifth and final Test against Australia in Sydney due to his awful outings in the three Tests of the series. He accumulated only 31 runs across five innings on the tour.

The veteran gave examples of Chesteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahana, who had earned their place back in the team at the back of their domestic forms in the past.

“When you are 37 years old, every failure hurts because a cricketer is a very proud person. When he sees the kind of performances he’s had in the past but can’t replicate them, and when young players are performing well, these factors weigh heavily on his mind. This might have influenced his decision. He needs to determine whether he still has the hunger to play Test cricket. If he does, that hunger must reflect in his actions.

"There’s been a lot of talk about playing domestic cricket," Bangar said on Star Sports.

"Players like Pujara and Rahane, who are on par with Rohit Sharma in stature, have been dropped in the past but have shown their hunger by playing in domestic cricket. Even today, they are sweating it out in domestic grounds, which are a big drop from the intensity of international cricket," he added.

Despite missing the Test at Sydney Cricket Ground that India lost by six wickets, ending their third consecutive World Test Championship final hopes, Rohit had expressed his desire to continue playing for India.

”I am not going anywhere; I still want to play.’ If he follows through and performs in domestic cricket, no one can stop him. But that form and hunger must be evident," the Indian captain had said.

On a similar note, former India wicketkeeper Deep Das Gupta also backed Bangar's sentiments and advised Rohit to play domestic cricket to prepare for the next Test series against England in June.

“The biggest question for me is whether they are still hungry. That hunger is crucial. At least one or two domestic games are important to assess this hunger. Class is not in question. Speaking of Rohit - excluding Virat -the way he batted, apart from that one poor shot across the line, he looked slightly better in his last innings, even though he didn’t score much. The hunger and willingness to sacrifice are key at this stage, after achieving so much individually and as a captain. The next Test series isn’t until June. Until then, there’s no domestic or red-ball cricket. Whatever red-ball cricket is available now - in the next two weeks - is critical," Gupta said.

Source: IANS