“I expected more from him” - Sunil Gavaskar admits he is disappointed with Rohit Sharma’s captaincy

Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has admitted that he has been disappointed with Rohit Sharma’s stint as Indian captain so far. He candidly stated that he expected more from the senior cricketer.

There were plenty of hopes for Rohit when he took over as full-time captain from Virat Kohli in February last year. However, under him, India failed to reach the final of the 2022 T20 World Cup and lost the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final as well recently, going down to Australia.

While reviewing India’s performance over the last year and a half, Gavaskar shared his views on Rohit’s leadership.

Gavaskar said at The Indian Express Idea Exchange:

“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.

Rohit struggled with the bat as well in both of India’s ICC events under his tenure. He had a poor run in the T20 World Cup in Australia, which culminated with a 28-ball 27 in the semi-final as England hammered the Men in Blue by 10 wickets.

In the WTC 2023 final at The Oval, he was dismissed for 15 and 43.

---

Gavaskar wanted Rohit, Kohli rested for West Indies Tests

Earlier, Gavaskar opined that the selectors should have rested Rohit and Virat Kohli for the Tests against West Indies since both have been playing non-stop cricket since October-November last year. He suggested that India could have tried out some youngsters against the Windies.

During a discussion on Sports Today, Gavaskar opined:

“The WTC is gone, we missed out there but the next big thing is the ODI World Cup. I would have preferred the big boys to be given a complete break from Test cricket. Look at only the 50-over format and maybe T20s too as it is the abbreviated version. I would have only wanted them to focus on white-ball cricket.”

The Indian legend continued:

“They have been playing non-stop cricket since October-November last year. And apart from injury breaks, they have not really got long breaks. So give them a complete break from red-ball cricket. The certainties who would be playing the 50-over World Cup. You have given [Mohammed] Shami a break so maybe the others too.”

India will take on the West Indies in a two-match Test series starting July 12 in Dominica.