New Delhi: Rohit Sharma, the India skipper who leads the team in the ODIs and Test cricket, has all the reasons to be praised as he continues to bring laurels to the nation. It is well versed that his contribution to Indian cricket has been immense and the opening batter has already etched his name in the history books. But… everything of it is obviously coming off a cost – in this case, the defeats endured by the Indian cricket team under his leadership.
One might say that winning and losing are both part of the game but when it comes to the losing part, the losses have been equally heartbreaking if not to say embarrassing. While on the one hand, India continue to reach new heights in the cricket world, the other hand sees the Men in Blue achieving dubious records. With the recent drubbing by New Zealand in the Bengaluru Test and the ODI series loss against Sri Lanka earlier, Rohit has raised several eyebrows due to his captaincy tactics.
If taking into consideration how the last year has fared for Rohit as a captain, while fully crediting the team for its achievements, it is quite hard to sideline the routings for which the nation was maintaining a long record of being unbeaten. Here are the instances where Rohit’s captaincy failed to deliver for Team India, and yes… it was obviously a team effort.
– Coming on the back of the T20 World Cup 2024 triumph after which Rohit announced his retirement from the format, India’s tour to Sri Lanka was Gautam Gambhir’s first international project after he was named the new head coach – replacing Rahul Dravid. India did win the three T20I series preceding the ODIs but lost the 50-over games 0-2 with the series opener ending in a tie.
Sri Lanka showed what home dominance actually looks like as India lost a bilateral ODI series against the island nation after 27 years and also for the very first time, lost 30 wickets in a three-match ODI series. The series also cemented the record of India remaining winless in a calendar year in the ODIs after 45 years.
– The focus shifts to Tests next as India began the year on a low – going down against a visiting England side in the five-Test series opener. As usual, questions were raised, captaincy was questioned but Rohit put a tape on every critics’ mouth with a brilliant turnaround of the team, winning the home Test series 4-1. But… New Zealand coming and giving India a taste of their own medicine sent shockwaves.
For the first time in 36 years, India lost a Test against the Kiwis at home and after 19 years, they lost a Test match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Although the weather tried saving India but New Zealand, as it seemed, were the plotted winners. India faced a disastrous collapse during the first innings, for the first time, scoring less than 50 runs at home. Also after 12 years, India lost two Test matches at home in a year.
What about Rohit’s batting?
Rohit is having a tough time scoring runs with the bat which has been silent for long now. Although the opener’s batting position is quite risky, Rohit is running short of runs, at least in his last six Test innings. He has amassed just 94 – having scored a six and a five in the 1st Test against Bangladesh and a 23 and an eight in the second. He was sent packing on two in the first innings of the Bengaluru Test vs NZ but did manage a half-century in the second essay, scoring 52.
Indian captains losing most home Tests – Where’s Rohit?
Rohit, who was announced as the captain of the Indian Test team in February 2022, has lost three Tests at home (so far) while leading the Men in Blue. Ostensibly, Rohit has lost these three Tests in just 2.5 years of his Test captaincy tenure which is emerging as a major blow to his “resume”. Comparing him with the other two Indian cricket giants – MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, both have had an impeccable record in this scenario.
Dhoni lost just three Tests at home in his six years of tenure as captain (2008-2014) while Kohli lost only two, even bettering Dhoni with a captaincy tenure of eight years (2014-22). Here’s how many Tests Dhoni, Kohli, and Rohit (cont.) have led India in at home.
Captains to lose test matches at home
Virat Kohli: 2 losses in 31 Tests
MS Dhoni: 3 losses in 30 Tests
Rohit Sharma: 3 Losses in 14 Tests
Indian skippers losing most home Tests
9 – MAK Pataudi
4 – M Azharuddin
4 – Kapil Dev
3 – Rohit Sharma
3 – Bishan Bedi
3 – MS Dhoni
3 – Sourav Ganguly
3 – Sachin Tendulkar
