'Whether you win or lose, the captain knows that he will be there' - Sunil Gavaskar takes dig at India captain Rohit Sharma for consistent losses

Team India have been having a tough time in Test cricket, as they recently lost their second consecutive World Test Championship final in 2023. The Rohit Sharma-led side were undone by Australia who hammered them by 209 runs in the summit clash and became the first team to have all the ICC trophies under their belt.

India finished on the first and second spot respectively in the two WTC cycles so far and have won historic series in Australia and drawn one in England. However, they failed to rise to the occasion in the all-important final and lost the summit clash back-to-back. Commenting on India’s shortcomings in recent times, legendary India cricketer, Sunil Gavaskar, has said that the captain isn’t afraid of losing his place in the side, even after getting whitewashed 4-0 in recent times.

"Whether you win or lose, the captain knows that he is going to be there. This has not been a recent case, mind you. This has been happening since 2011. There have been results where we have been wiped out in the series 0-4, 0-4 but the captain hasn't changed," Gavaskar was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.

Notably, India lost back-to-back overseas series against England and Australia in 2011-12 under the leadership of MS Dhoni. However, the BCCI let him continue his captaincy until he himself retired from the format in 2014.

After that under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, India won their first-ever series in Australia in 2018-19 as he finished as the fourth most successful skipper of the format with 40 wins from 68 matches.

India to end ICC Trophy drought under Rohit Sharma?

Meanwhile, India’s dismal run has been going on not just in Tests but in limited-overs cricket as well as they’ve not been able to win an ICC title since their Champions Trophy triumph in 2013. With the ODI World Cup 2023 scheduled to take place in India later this year, captain Rohit Sharma faces an uphill task of leading his team to victory, thereby emulating India’s 2011 World Cup triumph under MS Dhoni’s leadership.