Rohit Sharma has had a dream start to his tenure as the captain of the Indian cricket team. Ever since he took charge as the white-ball captain, the Indian side has whitewashed New Zealand, West Indies, and Sri Lanka in a T20I series at home. In fact, in his sole ODI series in charge also India defeated West Indies 3-0 earlier this month. The Indian cricket team is yet to lose a match so far, under his leadership.
While he has impressed one and all with his captaincy performances, on the other hand, his performance with the bat has not been highly impressive in the recently concluded home series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Saba Karim feels that Rohit needs to work on his batting and should not lose focus because his batting performances are crucial for the Indian team.
Speaking on the Khelneeti podcast Karim said that Rohit is in the Indian XI because of his batting performances and he should not lose his focus because he now has additional responsibility for him. He said:
“Rohit Sharma is in the XI because of his batting. Captaincy is an additional responsibility. He should not lose focus with regards to batting. Lot of times we have seen that captains are not able to perform as well in their primary skill. This should not happen.”
He added:
“This is just the starting phase for Rohit Sharma. He will gradually realize how important his runs are for the team. His performance will be crucial in Australia (during the T20 World Cup), where the grounds are big and the opposition have top-quality bowlers. So yes, Rohit Sharma needs to work on this area,”
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma will be now seen leading the Indian Test team for the first time in the upcoming two-match Test series against Sri Lanka, which will kickstart from March 4 in Mohali. While it will be the first Test match of Rohit Sharma as the captain of team India, it will also be Virat Kohli’s 100th Test match for India.
