Rohit’s horror form has negatively impacted his captaincy and the team: MSK Prasad

Former chief selector of the Indian Men’s side, MSK Prasad, believes that Rohit Sharma’s inability to contribute with the bat has had a negative impact on his captaincy, which has, in turn, affected the side as a whole.

India won the first Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy by 295 runs, but Jasprit Bumrah captained the team in Perth. Rohit came back in Adelaide after paternity leave, and Australia have since dominated proceedings completely in the series, with India being 1-1 only due to rain coming to their rescue at the Gabba. 

Commentating during the first session of the second day of the ongoing Melbourne Test, Prasad reckoned that, right from the get go, Rohit’s horror form had a negative impact on his captaincy. The India skipper entered this series with 133 runs across his previous 10 innings.

 "Yeah, that's a valid point, Mark [Nicholas], you raised about Rohit Sharma's captaincy. Heading into this series, we had a three-match series against New Zealand, it was pathetic, it had never happened in the history of Indian cricket that we lost back-to-back three games and Rohit was totally sorted out and had got absolutely no runs in the series,” Prasad said on air.

"So he [Rohit] comes into this series, he didn't play the first game, Bumrah led the side very well, so he comes at the backdrop of continuous failures. I personally feel that has got a direct impact, if a captain comes with some sort of form that has a direct impact on the side. And he [Rohit] comes after a series of failures and that has clearly shown the way he has led the side also. He has not been proactive on many occasions."

The former chief selector gave an example from the ongoing Test where Rohit’s lack of proactiveness let Australia have the edge. 

"If you see in this Test match itself, he had 11 overs bowled by Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah on the trot, especially when Sam [Konstas] was going hammer and tongs. But that has been the case with his captaincy, he's been struggling a bit both with his bat and also in captaincy,” he said.

Prasad’s comments came when India let the game drift on the morning of the second day. Australia entered day two with the score reading 311/6, but Steven Smith and Pat Cummins took the game away from the visitors in the morning session, with the hosts adding a whopping 143 runs for the loss of just one wicket. 

Later on the same day, Rohit departed for three after opening the batting. The team India skipper is hence now averaging 5.50 in this BGT, the worst among all batters who have batted at least four times.