Rohit Sharma cannot be judged as a captain only on the basis of India’s poor run of results since the 2024 T20 World Cup, former all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has said. The 43-year-old has defended his ex-teammate Rohit in the recent past as well with the latter, and India head coach Gautam Gambhir, under fire due to India’s India’s 3-1 defeat to Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
That marked the first time in a decade that India conceded the Trophy to Australia. However, the fact that it cost India a spot in the World Test Championship finals and came after a couple of stunning series defeats, including an embarassing 3-0 whitewash at the hands of New Zealand at home, left Rohit with a lot of questions hanging over him at the end of a year in which he led India to T20 World Cup glory.
“I always look at the team graph over a five-year period or three years. Gautam has just come into the system, he needs more time. Rohit Sharma has won the T20 World Cup as captain, he was captain when India played the ODI World Cup final. He led MI (Mumbai Indians) to five IPL titles,” Yuvraj told the press at an event.
Talk about the good performances more, says Yuvraj
Yuvraj also pointed out that Rohit stepped down from the team for the last Test against Australia after a string of low scores. “The guy has stepped down from the last match and given somebody else a chance. How many captains have done that in the past? Please tell me,” he asked.
Yuvraj reiterated that the 3-0 defeat to New Zealand at home is the more shocking result than the loss to Australia. “That is a tougher pill to swallow,” said Yuvraj. India lost the series Down Under but standout performances came from opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and rookie Nitish Reddy, who made a memorable hundred in the Melbourne Test.