Since India was humiliated 3-0 at home by New Zealand last month, Rohit Sharma‘s leadership in the Test format has been under fire. Since the Asian heavyweights lost two of the three Test matches they played under his guidance in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024–25 match against Australia, things have gotten worse. To make his problems worse, Rohit’s batting form has also failed him. In his last 11 Test cricket innings, the right-hander has only amassed 122 runs.
When India defeated Australia in the first Test match while Rohit was on paternity leave, they defeated them with stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah.
Former Pakistani cricketer Basit Ali claimed that Rohit Sharma had destroyed India’s confidence on his own.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul stitched a match-winning opening partnership of 201 runs in Perth without Rohit. The Mumbai hitter gave up his position at the top of the order after making a comeback to the playing XI in the second Test, opting instead to stay at No. 6 in the second and third Tests rather than altering the winning opening partnership. But he was unable to get himself among the runs.
Rahul was forced to No. 3 in the Boxing Day Test as he returned to the top of the order. Additionally, India chose to start with two spinners for the first time in the series, which meant Shubman Gill was left out of the playing XI. Nonetheless, the 37-year-old was able to achieve scores of 3 and 9.
According to Basit, the main reason India lost the Boxing Day Test was because Rohit opened the batting and disturbed the opening duo of Rahul and Yashasvi.
“After winning the first Test, did India become overconfident? “Ek faisla – ke nahi, mai open karunga.” Rahul, who was making runs, was also under pressure from you, and Rohit is not playing well. Basit stated on his YouTube channel, “Aapne team ka confidence bilkul shatter kar diya (you shattered the confidence of the team).”
According to the cricketer-turned-expert, Rohit should resign as captain so that Bumrah can assume leadership.
“In my opinion, Rohit should stand down; Bumrah ought to be named captain for the last Test. You have done a lot of service to India, but now your body is failing you,” Basit remarked.
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