Former Indian fast bowler RP Singh has questioned the decision of Rohit Sharma to take a break from India’s upcoming five-match T20I series against South Africa. India’s all-format captain Rohit Sharma has been going through a rough patch in his career and hasn’t had the best times of late as the Mumbai Indians (MI) failed to qualify for the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs for the second season in a row.
On a personal note, Rohit Sharma also wasn’t able to give the best of his abilities with the bat. He failed to score a single half-century in the previous edition of the T20 league. In the recently-concluded 2022 edition of the IPL, Rohit amassed 268 runs at an average of 19.14 with a top score of 48.
Now with the successful completion of IPL 2022, all the focus has now shifted to the international scene. The members of the Rahul Dravid-coached side are gearing up for the upcoming 5-match T20I series against South Africa at home. For the upcoming series, several senior players including captain Rohit Sharma, former captain Virat Kohli, and bowlers – Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami have been rested.
RP Singh reckoned that Rohit Sharma, being the captain of the Indian cricket team, should have taken the charge of the team in the upcoming series against the Proteas. As quoted by India TV, RP Singh questioned the decision of Rohit Sharma. He said:
“I think he should have played the series. Taking rest or not is his personal thought. It depends on how much fatigue he is experiencing. But I don’t think there was a need for a break. He should have played. It’s a long series and, remember, he is the captain as well,”
He added:
“In the IPL, Rohit hasn’t scored over 400 runs in the last few seasons. There are many others who have crossed the 400-run mark. His performances have been inconsistent in the tournament but he used to come up with a couple of match-winning knocks.”
“So everyone felt the spark in his batting was there. In the shortest format, you need match-winners. Even if they fire in a couple of matches, the team will win those,”
India’s T20I Squad:
KL Rahul (Capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(VC) (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, R Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik
South Africa’s T20I Squad:
Temba Bavuma (C), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen, Marco Jansen
