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AFter India's hectic white-ball tour of Australia, Gautam Gambhir was clearly not happy with the performance in the ODI series that preceded the victorious effort in the T20Is, as Shubman Gill's debut series in the 50-over format went Australia's way. While the 2027 World Cup is two years away and the focus is currently on T20Is, the ODI series was one that generated attention due to the return of former captains Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. With both players not playing Test and T20I cricket, this is the only format they play, and they arrived in Australia with speculation over their future. However, Rohit finished as the Player of the Series (POTS) with a stunning display that saw him score 202 runs in three innings despite a poor outing in the first game. He made a knock of 73 in the second ODI before a remarkable century in the third game. Meanwhile, Virat started the series with two ducks before playing a fine knock of 74 in the third ODI. Infact, Rohit and Virat put up a memorable unbeaten partnership of 168 runs to seal a nine-wicket win for India in the third ODI to ensure the Men in Blue avoided a series whitewash after Australia won the first two games to seal the series. While the series loss was not talked about much as Rohit and Virat's performance became the headline of the ODIs, that was not the case with Gambhir. Post India's T20I series win, the Indian head coach pointed out that he cannot celebrate series defeats and called it his moral responsibility. "I have always been a believer of it's not about the individual performances - yes, I can be be happy with individual performances but ultimately, we lost the ODI series - that is the bottom line, and I can never celebrate a series loss as a coach, as a player, I can appreciate individuals but as a coach, I think it is my moral responsibility that we as a nation & we as individual should never celebrate a series loss - ultimately, we are representing the country, T20 series was different, we won the series, a lot of positives and we are still not where we want to be in three months down the line because the bigger picture is not the series, but the World Cup - so once the WC comes, we are in that space, we want to be before the World Cup," said Gambhir in an interaction with BCCI.TV. Did Gautam Gambhir Take A Dig At Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli? The statement quickly went viral on social media, with fans divided as some speculated it was a dig at Rohit and Virat after the two stalwarts were hailed by cricket fans post the series. Also Read:Selectors Were Desperate For Shami To Play England Series, He Refused; Communication Claim Denied: Report Attention will now turn towards Test cricket as India hosts South Africa in two games from November 14. Rohit and Virat will return to action from November 30 when the Men in Blue play Proteas in a three-match ODI series. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Sports, Cricket and around the world.
