Don't doubt Rohit Sharma's captaincy, Kapil Dev tells doubters after Adelaide loss
Legendary India cricketer Kapil Dev urged Rohit Sharma’s doubters to stay away, backing the Indian captain’s ability to bounce back from setbacks. Kapil said it’s unfair to judge captaincy after just one bad result in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
While Jasprit Bumrah led India to a commanding victory in 295 runs in Rohit Sharma’s absence in the series opener in Perth, India lost by 10 wickets in Adelaide, playing uninspiring cricket under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy.
Rohit headed into the series on the back of a horror show with the bat in the home series loss to New Zealand. The captain sacrificed his opening spot for KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal and batted at No. 6. However, he was a walking wicket in both the innings, managing just 9 runs in the Test match.
India were comfortably outclassed by Australia, who rode on a Travis Head hundred and a pink-ball masterclass from Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins.
“Let’s not doubt Rohit Sharma’s ability to bounce back. He doesn’t have to prove himself. He has done this for many, many years, so let’s not doubt somebody. I won’t doubt him. I hope his form comes back, that’s important,” Kapil Dev said on Monday.
The World Cup-winning former captain highlighted how India won the T20 World Cup a few months back under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy, talking up the skipper’s ability to lead the team out of pressure.
Rohit joined Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni in an unwanted list after losing as many as four Test matches on the trot.
“With one or two performances, if you doubt someone’s captaincy, I mean, just six months back when he won the T20 World Cup, you wouldn’t have asked me this question. Let it go, knowing his ability and talent, he will come back. They will come back strongly,” Kapil said.
Rohit has not been looking comfortable against pace in the recent past. At home, Rohit was undone by New Zealand pacers in India’s shocking 0-3 loss in a Test series in October-November.
In the first innings of the Adelaide Test, Rohit was dismissed for 3 by Scott Boland. Rohit’s foot went nowhere when a nip-backer from Boland crashed into his pads. In the second innings, Rohit walked out to bat in the twilight period. His lack of confidence was obvious. He survived a LBW decision after Mitchell Starc overstepped, but Pat Cummins bowled a ripper to dismiss the Indian captain for 6.
Rohit will be under considerable pressure when India and Australia meet in the third Test in Brisbane from December 14.
