Questions are being raised over the captaincy and ability of Rohit Sharma to lead the Indian team, after Men in Blue’s heartbreaking exit from the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022. Rohit took over the responsibility of the Indian cricket team after its disappointing show at the end of the T20 World Cup last year, however, he has failed to deliver for India in the two big multi-nation events – Asia Cup 2022 and T20 World Cup 2022, not just as a captain but as a batter too.
Team India, who entered the Asia Cup 2022 as the defending champions, failed to qualify even for the finals after suffering shock defeats against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super 4 round. Following this, the Indian team failed again in the semis of the ICC tournament. The Men in Blue suffered an embarrassing 10-wicket defeat against England.
After India’s exit from the marquee event, former Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar questioned Rohit Sharma’s seriousness for the role of captain. He stated that he never understood if the 35-year-old was ever ready for the leadership role. He said: “Was he ready for the captaincy? I still haven’t received an answer to this question. We all knew that he wanted to be the skipper. But this is not an easy task to do. You have to live and breathe captaincy and also sacrifice your family life. That is why Rohit should be spending more time with the team, which will help him build the team as well. He just looked a bit depressed and off,”
He added: “With captaincy comes responsibility. If the team performs, you get the credit, but when you face criticism, you don’t point fingers at anyone. And Rohit Sharma’s continuation, I won’t be able to see that (mujhse dekha nahi jayega). Because he is close to his retirement in T20 format. Kohli took so much of time just to realize that captaincy is now gone and that he needs to come of that phase. Yet he took breaks from the game and then somehow, luckily, Pakistan were troubled by Kohli. Now he is in a good space. I think for Rohit Sharma, it has been too much to ask from him,”
Rohit Sharma also failed with the bat as he could only manage to score 116 runs in the 6 games he played at the T20 World Cup 2022 at an average of 19.33 and a strike rate of 106.42.
