Former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh has extended his support to the Indian captain Rohit Sharma, who has come under the scanner of critics, for the team’s poor performance in the ICC tournaments. There are many, including the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, who felt Rohit’s captaincy in the World Test Championship Final against Australia was inadequate.
Harbhajan Singh Extended His Support To Rohit Sharma
Speaking to PTI, ahead of India’s next Test assignment against the West Indies, Harbhajan Singh backed Rohit and slammed his critics. He said:
“I find that people are going a bit overboard… the way Rohit has been criticized. Cricket is a team sport and one individual cannot take you from one place to another,”
He added: “Team India didn’t do well in the WTC final, and yes, you talk about that performance and move on from there. But it is unfair to criticise Rohit alone, that he is not scoring runs, putting on weight, not captaining well. I think he is a brilliant leader,”
Further, Harbhajan Singh shared his own experience of playing under Rohit for Mumbai Indians. He said:
“I have played with him (Rohit) and watched him closely. He commands a lot of respect not only in the MI dressing room but also in the Indian dressing room. So I think it’s unfair to judge him on the basis of recent results. He will come good and we need to show faith in him and we need to support him rather than pinpointing that you are not doing this or that.”
Harbhajan also hoped that Rohit would receive support from the BCCI just like his predecessors.
For the unversed, every Indian captain in Team India’s history has received huge support from the BCCI and its most powerful administrator. While Sourav Ganguly relied on Jagmohan Dalmiya, on the other hand, MS Dhoni received huge support from N Srinivasan. Vinod Rai, the former CAG and Committee of Administrators (CoA) head, backed Virat Kohli during his captaincy. Harbhajan said:
“If you have the support from BCCI, you can work freely. Not just MS Dhoni or Virat Kohli, if you go back a little further, a lot of captains have got support from BCCI presidents of that time.”
“Rohit must be getting support from BCCI. I don’t know how much support he must be getting (though). Having that kind of support will help him take right kind of decision at the right time. He will get that liberty if he has that support. Support must be there for Rohit like BCCI has given it to all its captains,”
