I would have preferred the big boys to be given a complete break from Test cricket – Sunil Gavaskar on why Virat and Rohit should have been rested for West Indies series

India announced their squad against West Indies a couple of days ago and surprisingly, a handful of big names who were expected to be given a breather in the Caribbean tour were also a part of the unit. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s inclusion was seen as more of a surprise while the addition of Yashasvi Jaiswal was met with plaudits.

Former Indian captain, Sunil Gavaskar had an important analysis of the recently announced Indian squad and made it clear that India could have done with a bit of break for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli so that they could arrive into the upcoming World Cup, Asia Cup and also the forthcoming T20s with a fresher state of mind.

Talking to Sports Today, Sunil Gavaskar said, “There was a very good chance to try and look at the next rung of cricketers. Because if there was any tour where you could have made some sort of experiment then it was the West Indies. They are not the same force anymore. Therefore, blooding in the younger players would have been the right way.”

He further added, “The WTC is gone, we missed out there but the next big thing is the ODI World Cup. I would have preferred the big boys to be given a complete break from Test cricket. Look at only the 50-over format and maybe T20s too as it is the abbreviated version. I would have only wanted them to focus on white-ball cricket. They have been playing non-stop cricket since October-November last year. And apart from injury breaks, they have not really got long breaks. So give them a complete break from red-ball cricket. The certainties who would be playing the 50-over World Cup. You have given Shami a break so maybe the others too.”

Gavaskar continued, “Give them a break till the end of July. Now apparently, this team is going to go for warm-up matches and all on the 1st and 2nd of July. So they will have a barely 20-day break. Why not give them 40 days? So that they come back for the white-ball formats completely fresh.”

He concluded by saying, “This tour of the West Indies is not going to tell us anything new about the established players. Whether they will be there two years down the line for the WTC final, I don't know. So a wonderful opportunity was missed.”