I was shocked when Rohit Sharma was dropped for the West Indies tour: Dilip Vengsarkar

Former Indian batsmen Dilip Vengsarkar on Wednesday spoke about his reactions to Rohit Sharma's axing from the Indian cricket team for the Test series as part of the West Indies tour post the 2019 World Cup.

In a live chat with Indranil Basu on Sportskeeda's Facebook page, Dilip Vengsarkar spoke about how shocked he felt when he came to know about Rohit Sharma being dropped for the Test series.

“I was shocked after the World Cup where he scored 5 hundreds and he (Rohit Sharma) was dropped from the first Test match in West Indies. I mean that was shocking to me,” said Dilip Vengsarkar.

Rohit Sharma was in sublime form during the 2019 World Cup in England. The ‘Hitman’ struck a purple patch and broke the record of Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara when he notched up his 5th century of the World Cup, one more than Sangakkara's record of four centuries in a single edition of the competition.

"How could you drop Rohit Sharma?"

Rohit Sharma had slammed centuries against England, Bangladesh, South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the quadrennial tournament and therefore, when he was dropped from the Test team, a lot of eyebrows were raised.

The former chairman of selectors expressed his shock at how Rohit Sharma was dropped for the Test series despite putting up a magnificent show during the World Cup.

“How can you drop Rohit Sharma after scoring 5 hundreds in big matches? 140 against Pakistan in a crucial game and you drop him in first match against West Indies in West Indies. And he accepted it. How it is allowed? How could you do it?” added Vengsarkar.

It was under Vengsarkar's guidance and MS Dhoni's stewardship that Rohit Sharma evolved from just another middle order batsman to one of the world's best opening batsmen across formats.