Rohit Sharma’s leadership during the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024–25 has drawn criticism from Aakash Chopra. According to him, the Indian captain played defensively and failed to make good use of Jasprit Bumrah against Travis Head. On Sunday, December 8, Australia defeated India by 10 wickets in the second Test match played in Adelaide.
Head’s 141-ball 140 in Australia’s opening innings, which helped the hosts record 337 and take a game-changing 157-run lead, earned him the Player of the Match award. Rohit Sharma has lost 4 test matches in a row as a captain. After the whitewash against NZL, it is difficult for India to qualify for the World Test Championship Finals.
“Let’s call a spade a spade” – Aakash Chopra on Rohit Sharma’s Captaincy
Aakash Chopra pointed out the major error that Indian Team is doing against their nemesis Travis Head.
“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 (7:30).
“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,” Chopra added
Chopra pointed out that Rohit Sharma acknowledged that he wasn’t playing at his best as captain following the 0–3 home series loss to New Zealand. He recalled that during the first Test match in Bengaluru, when they were taking the spinners to the cleaners, the Indian captain chose not to use the seamers against Tim Southee and Rachin Ravindra.
Captaincy Hasn’t Been At It’s Best, Pointing At Rohit Sharma
“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 (9:10)
“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,” Chopra added.
As India’s captain, Rohit Sharma deserves support, Aakash Chopra said in closing. Gautam Gambhir and Morne Morkel must assist Rohit, he continued, in the same way that the Mumbai Indians (MI) captain did when he was captain of the Indian Premier League.