With the Asia Cup and World Cup coming up, skipper will be on trial by fire both as batter and captain.
India skipper Rohit Sharma has had an illustrious career and will be remembered as one of the best of this generation. However, the next three months will be the most crucial for his career in terms of how he will be remembered and his contribution to Indian cricket both as a batsman and leader
Rohit became India captain in challenging circumstances when a tug of war was going on between Virat Kohli and the selectors. There was a lot of backlash from fans and a degree of surprise in cricketing circles on how Kohli’s captaincy situation was handled. The stature of Kohli in Indian cricket meant that whoever took the reins next would automatically be under more scrutiny than any captain before him.
One of the major criticisms of Kohli’s captaincy was his inability to win ICC trophies. When Rohit became full-time skipper, he had won five IPLs and was expected to deliver similar results in ICC events for India. It was never a move that looked like it was taken with a long-term vision, instead in search of instant success.
Thus far in the two opportunities he has had in ICC events, it has been more or less the same tale of crumbling in pressure situations and losing big games, a malaise since 2013. Rohit did have mitigating circumstances with the injury to Jasprit Bumrah in both events which weakened the bowling significantly. However, with the ace pacer back in the mix now, the margin for error is zero for the India skipper.
