Expected more from Rohit Sharma as captain, proclaims Sunil Gavaskar
Former Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar expressed disappointment over Rohit Sharma's tenure as the all-format Indian skipper, stating the side's failures abroad had shaken his expectations. He further gave examples of subpar captaincy by the Mumbaikar and the declining camaraderie in the dressing room.
The all-format captain of the Indian national men's team Rohit Sharma recently endured harsh criticism from legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar for the lack of success in his brief stint at the helm of the Men in Blue. Since taking over from Virat Kohli, the 36-year-old has led India in two major ICC events, namely the World T20 2022 and the World Test Championship (WTC) final 2023, but has failed to take his team across the victory line on both occasions. Additionally, India also suffered an ODI series loss in Bangladesh the previous year to further add to Rohit's misery.
Speaking at an event organized by The Indian Express earlier in the week, Gavaskar expressed that Sharma and co. should have fared better abroad given the quality of the side, with a semi-final exit against England at the T20 World Cup not good enough.
"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," he was quoted saying.
Gavaskar further pointed out tactical mistakes made by Rohit in his time as skipper, including the inefficient bowling plan against Travis Head in the WTC final which led to the attacking batter scoring a match-winning 163 in the first innings.
"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," Gavaskar explained.
Gavaskar even expressed dismay over the team atmosphere prevailing in the national dressing room following comments by Ravichandran Ashwin revealing the members of the Indian team were no longer friends but just colleagues.
“It’s a sad thing because you should be able to get together after play ends and maybe not talk about the game but talk about music, maybe talk about the films you like, maybe talk about your interest in space. But if that is not what is happening, that is disappointing," he concluded on the matter.