Gambhir clears air about future of senior players

India’s 3-1 series loss in BGT: Head coach Gautam Gambhir insists thatRohitSharmaandVirat Konli's future plansare entirely their calland the decision to retire or notlies with the players themselves

- TRIDIB BAPARNASH

India's 3-1 series loss to Australia has raised questions over the futures of ~ 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 fivematch 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.

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.