Former Indian cricketer Mohammed Kaif is of the opinion that it is too early to judge the current Indian skipper as captain of the national team.
After Virat Kohli stepped down as Test captain following India’s series loss to South Africa in January, Rohit Sharma took over as full-time captain in February. Rohit, who has over 16000 international runs, was named white ball captain in December last year.
Rohit has already demonstrated his white-ball captaincy credentials in the India Premier League, leading Mumbai Indians to a record five titles. He was expected to continue his trophy-winning streak in India colours as well.
Some expected him to deliver almost immediate results and to end India’s long wait for an ICC trophy. India last won an ICC trophy in 2013, when MS Dhoni led the team to the ICC Champions Trophy title, defeating England by 5 runs in the final.
At the T20 World Cup in Australia, Rohit led India for the first time in an ICC event, leading the team to the semi-finals. However, they couldn’t go any further, losing an embarrassing 10-wicket defeat to England, who went on to win the trophy.
Moreover, India had a disappointing Asia Cup performance prior to the ICC T20 World Cup. They only beat Afghanistan in the Super 4s (against Afghanistan) and were eliminated after defeats against Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Former India cricketer Mohammed Kaif believes it is premature to pass judgement on Rohit and his captaincy.
“Rohit is a good captain. It’s still very early days for us to judge him as a captain. We have to wait and watch him in the upcoming tournaments.
Pressure is definitely on him because when he became captain, he was expected to win an ICC trophy, which he has failed to do,”
Kaif said in response to a question asked by the Times of India during a media interaction.
With India hosting the next ICC World Cup next year, all eyes will be on Rohit and the style of captaincy he brings to the table. The Men in Blue won the ODI World Cup the last time it was held in India in 2011.
Because of his own performance with the bat in the tournament (16 runs in 6 matches), Sharma faced particularly harsh criticism in the aftermath of the T20 World Cup. Overall, he has led India in 71 matches (including ODIs, Tests, and T20Is) since 2017, scoring 2409 runs at an average of 38.23, including four centuries and fifteen fifties.
