Why Rohit Sharma should quit Test captaincy

Rohit Sharma’s Test captaincy should come to an end after the end of the ongoing series for Border Gavaskar Trophy and better still, for himself and Indian team’s sake, he should step down if India lose the ongoing fourth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The 37-year-old got a thumbs down from the former Chairman of the selection committee, MSK Prasad who tore into him during the second day’s play of the Boxing Day Test.

Prasad said that Sharma is coming with a baggage.

“Rohit Sharma comes into the side in the backdrop of continuous failures. I personally feel that it has a direct impact [on captaincy]. If you see the captain, if he comes with some sort of a form, that has a direct impact on the side. He comes after a series of failures. That has really shown in the way he has led the side. He has not been proactive on many occasions,” said Prasad on air while commentating alongside Mark Nicholas and Justin Langer during the first session of the day.

Langer had also pointed out that captain’s form has a bearing on the captaincy. It was evident again later in the day when Sharma fell to a short arm jabbed pull.

Giving an example of how bad he has been as skipper, Prasad pointed to the first session on the first day. 

“If you see in this Test match, he had 11 overs bowled by Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah on the trot, especially when Sam Konstas was tonking the bowling. That has been the case with his captaincy. He has been struggling a bit both with his bat and also with captaincy.”

He also questioned the inclusion of two spinners on this surface.

Prasad has been the first big name to openly question his captaincy.

There has been lack of imagination in his leadership.

Even though one Test is a small sample size to judge captaincy, Bumrah’s biggest quality in the first Test against Australia at Perth, which India won, was his use of bowlers. He ensured that he used himself for shorter spells and revolved the rest of the attack around himself. The Australian top-order batting, which has struggled over the past few years, caved in against the accurate Indian attack.

However, once Sharma returned to helm he began using Bumrah for longer spells even though the pacer has been facing fitness problems. It appears that Bumrah will always struggle with fitness if he bowls over 20 overs in an innings.

There were phases on Day 2 of 4th Test when lack of leadership showed. He made Mohammed Siraj open the bowling on the second day, and then removed him after just one over. It looks like he is unsure of how to use Siraj or he lacks confidence in the pace bowler who, according to unconfirmed reports, is closer to Virat Kohli.

Siraj’s second spell was going better but after a chat with skipper Sharma he began bowling short, one of which went above wicketkeeper’s head and was called wide.

Then when Akash Deep was bowling with the second new ball, not making batsmen play with the new ball as noted by Sunil Gavaskar, there seemed to be no instructions from the captain.

We saw the same lack of proactiveness during India’s home series against New Zealand in which the host fell to their first-ever 3-0 whitewash in history.

That apart, the sudden retirement of R Ashwin didn’t reflect well on the atmosphere within the team although Sundar on Friday said that the atmosphere in the camp is great.

It should be recalled that India won the last Border Gavaskar Trophy (in 2020-21) despite not having their best bowling attack. There were greenhorns in the squad but they stuck together as a pack and knew their roles.

Tags : Rohit Sharma, MSK Prasad, Melbourne, MCG, Border Gavaskar Trophy, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, India vs Australia, fourth Test, 4th Test, Boxing Day