IND vs ENG: Gautam Gambhir dubs Rohit Sharma selfish for his knock of 87, Irfan Pathan differs

India vs England: In the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 match played in Lucknow against England, India captain Rohit Sharma's valiant effort with the bat is being appreciated by fans as he continues to prove why he's one of the giants of the game. However, former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir was unimpressed with the India skipper.

Rohit - who opened innings for India after being put in to bat first by English skipper Jos Buttler - stood his ground firmly against England and revived his team from the tricky situation before getting dismissed for 87 and missing yet another chance of slamming an ODI ton.

Rohit faced 101 balls, out of which he brilliantly hit 10 boundaries and 3 over-the-boundary shots. His sturdy performance maintained the Indian innings even though the team stumbled with early losses of Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer.

However, this commendable innings of 87 runs was brought to an abrupt end when Rohit attempted a big shot off leg spinner Adil Rashid and got caught at midwicket while attempting a pull shot.

Rohit's departure in the 37th over sparked a wave of criticism from former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir expressed his dissatisfaction stating that Rohit's shot selection was irresponsible and his dismissal could have been avoided especially when a capable batsman, Suryakumar Yadav, was at the other end.

"He played a bad shot and wasted all the hard work he had put in to reach a score of 87. He didn't think about the team. I wouldn't have said anything if he was batting with Jasprit Bumrah but Suryakumar Yadav was at the crease, who is a proper batter," the 2011 World Cup-winning cricketer said in the commentary box.

Rohit's dismissal directly impacted India's performance in the game as the home team could only post 229 for the loss of nine wickets in the stipulated 50 overs. Had Rohit stayed at the crease, he couldn't have just slammed his 32nd ODI century but also helped his team post a respectable total on the board.

However, fellow commentator and former India pacer Irfan Pathan differed with Gambhir and said on Star Sports, "Rohit Sharma played a captain's knock. He was aggressive in the first few overs but adjusted according to the situation and demand of the game."

In his entire career between 2007 and 2022, Rohit was dismissed in the 80s on four occasions but in 2023 he has already been out four times in the 80s. Gautam Gambhir's criticism indeed holds as a reminder that every run and every wicket is crucial in the match.

Earlier in the day, before the start of the match Gambhir dubbed Rohit as a selfless cricketer and said, "Rohit Sharma would've got 40-45 hundreds by now, but he's not obsessed with hundreds. He's selfless."