Rohit Sharma continues to cop flak for his monotonous captaincy and underwhelming batting in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. Rohit scored 6, 3 and 10 in his first three innings batting in the middle order, and those numbers didn’t improve much here in Melbourne either, with the captain falling for just 3 on his return as the top of the order. Besides, plenty has been spoken about his captaincy – field placements or his bowlers’ rotation. At the moment, nothing seems to be working out, and the biggest example of it was India’s failure to grab an early wicket with the second new ball on Day 2 of the Boxing Day Test.
Hence, when Australia continued to pile on runs, with Steve Smith completing his 11th Test century against India, on commentary, former BCCI chairman of selectors MSK Prasad couldn’t take it any longer. Prasad laid waste to Rohit, harshly criticising his captaincy, batting and how he looks clueless.
“We raised the topic about Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. Heading into this series, we had a three-match series against New Zealand. It was pathetic. Never happened in the history of Indian cricket that we lost back-to-back three games, and Rohit was totally sorted out. He had absolutely no runs in that series. And here, he didn’t play the first game. Bumrah led the side very well. So he comes after the backdrop of continuous failures,” Prasad, who was the chairman of the BCCI selection committee from 2016 to 2020, said.
‘Rohit has been struggling’
As the former India wicketkeeper aptly pointed out, Rohit, as captain, hasn’t had a great record lately. After winning the T20 World Cup under him, India lost a bilateral ODI series to Sri Lanka after 28 years, followed by a painful series defeat – a 0-3 whitewash – to New Zealand, marking India’s first loss at home in 12 years. Prasad mentions how Rohit’s lack of ideas is hurting India, evident through the players’ body language. Besides, the fact that he is coming off a lukewarm run isn’t helping either.
“I personally feel that it has got a direct impact. If the captain comes into some sort of form, that has a direct impact on the side. And he comes after a series of failures and that has clearly shown in the way he led the side. He has not been proactive on many occasions. If you see, in this Test match itself, he had 11 overs bowled by Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah, especially when Sam [Konstas] was going hammer and tongs. That has been the case with his captaincy. He has been struggling with both the captain and his captaincy,” added Prasad.
