Former India captain MSK Prasad minced no words when it came to giving his opinion on Rohit Sharma’s form in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as a batter and captain. Since taking over the leadership from Jasprit Bumrah in Adelaide, things have gone down for not just the captain but the whole Indian team.
Rohit Sharma’s poor batting affect his captaincy
They have conceded more than 400 twice already, something that didn’t happen in the last two Australia vs India Test series (2018-19 and 2020-21). The team selection, batting order, bowling changes, and fielding setting are all questionable. Not playing Akash Deep in Adelaide or dropping Shubman Gill in Melbourne are just some of the mistakes he’s made.
Prasad feels that the reason why Rohit Sharma has struggled with his captaincy is because of his lack of runs. “Yeah, that’s a valid point, Mark (Nicholas), you raised about Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. Heading into this series, we had a three-match series against New Zealand. It was pathetic; it had never happened in the history of Indian cricket that we lost back-to-back three games, and Rohit was totally sorted out and had got absolutely no runs in the series,” the former selector said on air.
Rohit Sharma in BGT 2024-25
| Innings | Runs | Balls Faced | Average | 100s | 50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 22 | 70 | 5.50 | 0 | 0 |
“So he (Rohit) comes into this series; he didn’t play the first game; Bumrah led the side very well, so he comes at the backdrop of continuous failures. I personally feel that has got a direct impact; if a captain comes with some sort of form that has a direct impact on the side. And he (Rohit) comes after a series of failures, and that has clearly shown the way he has led the side also. He has not been proactive on many occasions,” Prasad added.
Overworking Jasprit Bumrah
Prasad also pointed out that at one point, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj bowled 11 consecutive overs despite Sam Konstas going after them. Another captaincy would have changed the bowler to unsettle the batter, but Rohit Sharma didn’t do so. That’s because his mind is pre-occupied due to his batting failures, which are in turn affecting his captaincy.
“If you see in this Test match itself, he had 11 overs bowled by Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah on the trot, especially when Sam (Konstas) was going hammer and tongs. But that has been the case with his captaincy; he’s been struggling a bit both with his bat and also in captaincy.”
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