It has been more than 18 months since Rohit Sharma took over the reins from Virat Kohli as India’s all-format captain, however, he is yet to leave an impression in the marquee tournaments. Apart from achievements in a few bilateral series wins and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Rohit has not been able to replicate his IPL success in the ICC tournaments.
Rohit Sharma had some big shoes to fill when he took over the reins from Virat Kohli as he was expected to end India’s long trophy drought, however, one year down the line the trivia remains unchanged for team India. Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team had two opportunities to end their ICC trophy drought – T20 World Cup 2022 and the World Test Championship final 2023, but on both occasions, the team failed to break the deadlock of the last 10 years.
Besides this, the Indian cricket team also failed to qualify for the Asia Cup final, as they lost to Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super 4.
Sunil Gavaskar Compared Rohit Sharma’s Captaincy To Virat Kohli
Meanwhile, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar talked about Rohit’s tenure as captain. He feels that the Indian captain has been disappointed due to several reasons and one of them is the team’s decline in overseas Tests.
Under the captaincy of Virat Kohli, team India became a beast, dominating world cricket in Test format. Comparing the two, Gavaskar said:
“I expected more from him (Rohit). In India it is different, but when you do well overseas that is really the test. That is where he has been a little disappointing. Even in the T20 format, with all the experience of the IPL, hundreds of matches as captain, with a mix of best IPL players not being able to get to the finals has been disappointing,”
Gavaskar, who is the first batter to score 10,000 international runs, also expressed his concern about the lack of effectiveness from the Indian pacers. Notably, Under Kohli and Ravi Shastri’s era, the Indian bowlers made it a habit of taking 20 wickets in a Test. However, lately, the same bowlers have been struggling. He said:
“They should be asking questions, ‘Why did you field first?’ Okay, it was explained at the toss that it was overcast and all. The question after that should be, ‘You didn’t know about Travis Head’s weakness against the short ball?’ Why was the bouncer employed only when he had scored 80 runs. You know, the moment Head came in to bat, in the commentary box, we had Ricky Ponting saying, ‘Bounce him, bounce him.’ Everyone knew about it but we didn’t try,”
