Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has said that “family commitments” can take a backseat, barring emergency cases, in the year of the World Cup.

Gavaskar’s comments came after India skipper Rohit Sharma missed the first ODI against Australia due to the wedding of his brother-in-law.

In Rohit’s absence, vice-captain Hardik Pandya led the Men in Blue in the ODI series at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

“I think he needs to play every game. You can’t have a captain who is there for one match and not there for the rest. It is so important. It can happen to any other player but I think I know it was a family commitment, so he had to be there. That’s understandable,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.

“When it comes to the World Cup, you can’t have a family commitment; it’s as simple as that. Maybe before that, finish everything that you have unless it’s an emergency. Emergency is something completely different,” he stated.

“You need continuity in leadership. There’s a feeling that you have got everybody with you, otherwise there are two leaders. Then there are two leaders that the team is looking at,” Gavaskar added.

Rohit Sharma returned to lead the side in the last two ODIs but India suffered defeats in both games to concede the three-match series 2-1.

Earlier, Rohit captained the Indian team to the 2-1 Border-Gavaskar Trophy triumph against Australia.