New Delhi:
India captain Rohit Sharma has some tough questions to answer after the team’s defeat in the pink-ball Test against Australia in Adelaide. Rohit replaced Jasprit Bumrah as the skipper for the team after India comprehensively defeated Australia in the opening match at Perth. However, Rohit’s captaincy looked lackluster in the day-night Test, where India suffered a humbling 10-wicket defeat. As experts pose critical questions in front of Rohit, former India batter Aakash Chopra remains baffled by the captain’s usage of marquee pacer Jasprit Bumrah in the game.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Chopra addresses some questions from fans. As one fan asked about Rohit’s captaincy in the match, Chopra was quick to assert how bad the Hitman’s decision-making was in Adelaide.
“You are absolutely right, my friend. Did we bowl bouncers to Head? You have to bowl bouncers on Head’s head. Until we do that, he doesn’t get out and keeps troubling us. He has done that earlier and is doing it now also. He did that in the World Cup final and the WTC final as well,” he said.
“Jasprit Bumrah had bowled a four-over spell and had already picked up a wicket in that. So why did he bowl only four overs, and didn’t bowl after that at all? He didn’t bowl in the entire session. So you are 100 percent right when you say that you missed a trick in captaincy. Rohit’s captaincy – let’s call a spade a spade. We saw defensive captaincy. He allowed the match to drift,” he added.
“I have brought another list as well – the most consecutive losses by an Indian captain. Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi lost six consecutive matches in 1967. After that, Sachin Tendulkar in 1999, and if you come to the 21st century, MS Dhoni twice lost four consecutive matches, Virat Kohli lost four consecutive matches in 2020-21, and now Rohit Sharma has already lost four consecutive matches,” he said.
“He wasn’t the captain in the Perth match. So that win doesn’t count for him. If we leave the last century, it’s Dhoni, Kohli, and Rohit, and the biggest concerning thing, which might not be with anyone else, is three consecutive losses at home. The captaincy has been a little lackluster,” he added.
