NEW DELHI: Former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday criticised the handling of Rohit Sharma’s captaincy situation, calling it ‘bizarre’ and stating that a captain should ‘never be dropped midstream’.
The Indian captain Rohit experienced a significant decline in his performance during 2024, marking a concerning phase in his 11-year Test career. His difficulties against both fast bowling and spin bowling, regardless of playing conditions, along with his inability to build on promising starts, revealed fundamental weaknesses in his technique for Test cricket.
Rohit’s underwhelming performances in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where India currently trail 1-2, particularly against a formidable Australian side, led to discussions about his position in the national team. And finally he has been dropped, as reported by TimesofIndia.com, for the series finale in Sydney.
Taking to social media platform X, Sidhu expressed his strong disapproval, emphasising that Rohit warranted greater respect and confidence from the team management, suggesting that such a choice sends wrong signals.
“A Captain should never be dropped midstream nor given the option to opt out … sends wrong signals… Have seen Captains like Mark Taylor, Azharuddin etc persisted as captain for a year despite bad form… @ImRo45 deserved more respect and faith from the management… Bizarre coz it happened for the first time in Indian cricket history… Blunder – for a fallen lighthouse is more dangerous than a reef!” Sidhu wrote on X.
2024 proved to be a challenging year for Rohit, with statistics showing a mere 619 runs from 14 Test matches at an average of 24.76. His century count stood at two, accompanied by two half-centuries in this duration.
Following his century against England in Dharamsala in March 2024, Rohit’s form deteriorated further, accumulating only 154 runs in 15 innings, with just one fifty, averaging a modest 10.26.
