After Team India failed to win a trophy at the T20 World Cup in Australia, many began to question the team’s success at ICC tournaments generally. India had a great group stage, but they were unable to carry that momentum into their semi-final loss to England in Adelaide, where they were beaten by a score of 10 wickets.
The captain’s future in the position, as well as his selections throughout the World Cup, have been the centre of much discussion. Former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar was asked to evaluate Rohit’s performance as captain and gave his honest opinion on whether or not he should continue in that role.
As a result of India’s disappointing performance in T20 Internationals in the United Arab Emirates last year, Rohit was promoted to captain the team in this format this time around. Veterans believed that Rohit could end the long-standing streak because of his impressive resume as captain, which included five IPL trophies. The confidence was bolstered by India’s good performance in bilateral matches over the last year when he was captain.
India’s World Cup performance was immediately noticeable, as the team won its first two matches before being stopped by South Africa. They lost their next game but came back to win the next two and the league round. But England simply outplayed India in the semis, and India lost by 10 wickets for the second time in a T20 World Cup match.
After the devastating loss, speaking to Zee News, Akhtar said that he didn’t think Rohit was ever ready for the captaincy role and questioned his seriousness for the role. He continued, saying that India will be wise to choose a new captain for the format now that Rohit seems to be retiring from it.
“Was he ready for the captaincy? I still haven’t received an answer to this question. We all knew that he wanted to be the skipper. But this is not an easy task to do. You have to live and breathe captaincy and also have to sacrifice family life. That is why Rohit should be spending more time with the team which will help him in building the team as well. He just looked a bit depressed and off,” Shoaib said.
