India opener Rohit Sharma had an incredible 2019. In 28 ODI games last year, Rohit smashed 1490 runs with an outstanding average of 57.30 and finished as the top run-scorer of 2019. In the World Cup too, he scored 648 runs in just nine matches and remained at the top of ‘most runs’ table. He averaged 81 and struck the maximum of five hundreds in the mega event.
However, even after a staggering year, Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, also known as the ‘Bible of Cricket’ – a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom, didn’t mention Rohit in the list of top five performers of 2019.
Wisden picked Ellyse Perry, Pat Cummins, Marnus Labuschagne, Jofra Archer, and Simon Harmer as the top five cricketers of last year.
The cricket fans were surprised with the exclusion of Rohit Sharma as he was one of the best performers in the previous year. Now, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has slammed the publication for its biased view and accused it of only giving preference to English cricketers.
In his Column at Mid-Day, Gavaskar wrote that Rohit wouldn’t even think about it as along with him most Indian cricketers concern about winning games for their nation.
“Firstly, let’s get one thing clear: Rohit is not going to lose sleep over his exclusion. All that he and the others in the Indian team are concerned about is winning games for the country and getting those delightful thumps on the back and hair ruffled by teammates in appreciation of their effort. That’s the sweetest and only compliment that any cricketer wants.”
“Any other compliment, praise or even criticism doesn’t really matter. So, make no mistake; it won’t matter to Rohit. He knows he gave his everything to the Indian team in their pursuit of the World Cup. You win some; you lose some.”
Gavaskar further added that one should not give any importance to Wisden as it rates only what happens in England. The veteran cricketer expressed that it doesn’t matter how many wickets or runs a player adds in his account, if it doesn’t happen in England, then it won’t matter to the publication.
“Remember also that a player could get thousands of runs and hundreds of wickets, but if that has not happened in England, then he still won’t be in the list of five since only performances in England are taken into account. Since that has been the case for so long, why should anyone even give the list and the publication any importance since it rates only what happens in England,” Gavaskar added.
