‘I expected more from him’: Gavaskar disappointed with Rohit’s performance as Indian captain

NEW DELHI— Legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has said that he has been disappointed with Rohit Sharma’s tenure as the captain of the Indian team, and said he expected more from the 36-year-old opener.

In addition, he also called for increased accountability from the coaching staff.

Rohit took over the captaincy reins in February last year after Virat Kohli’s time as the skipper came to an end. Although India has achieved positive results in bilateral home series, they have encountered difficulties in achieving success in major tournaments as India failed to qualify for the T20 World Cup final in Australia, lost the World Test Championship final last month.

“I expected more from him (Rohit). In India it is different, but when you do well overseas that is really the test. That is where he has been a little disappointing. Even in the T20 format, with all the experience of the IPL, hundreds of matches as captain, with a mix of best IPL players not being able to get to the finals has been disappointing,” Gavaskar told The Indian Express.

The former Indian skipper also expressed his desire to ascertain whether the team management conducted a thorough review of India’s losses. While specifically addressing India’s defeat to Australia in the WTC final last month, he emphasised that coach Rahu Dravid and captain Rohit should have been held accountable to explain the decisions they made during the match.

 “They should be asking questions, ‘Why did you field first?’ Okay, it was explained at the toss that it was overcast and all. The question after that should be, ‘You didn’t know about Travis Head’s weakness against the short ball?’ Why was the bouncer employed only when he had scored 80 runs. You know, the moment Head came in to bat, in the commentary box, we had Ricky Ponting saying, ‘Bounce him, bounce him.’ Everyone knew about it but we didn’t try,” he said.

Team India is set to kick off their 2023-2025 ICC World Test Championship (WTC) cycle with a two-match Test series against West Indies, starting from July 12.

The series will be followed by three ODIs and five T20Is.