'Unfair to criticise Rohit alone': Harbhajan backs India skipper amid criticism on his captaincy
'Unfair to criticise Rohit alone': Harbhajan backs India skipper amid criticism on his captaincy
While Indian skipper Rohit Sharma is under fire after India’s dismal gameplan at the World Test Championship final against Australia last month, former Indian spinner Harbhajan has called for trust in his capabilities by the team management.
In June, India failed to perform at a big game yet again: Australia beat India by a humiliating margin of 209 runs. Besides this, since Rohit took over the captaincy last February, India failed to make the 2022 T20 World Cup final after an insulting 10-wicket loss to England in the semi-final and showed below-par performance in a Test series in South Africa.
This attracted the ire of veterans, including Sunil Gavaskar, who was looking forward to Rohit’s captaincy when he took on the job, but recently expressed disappointment in him and called for a review of his decision-making.
This sharp criticism didn’t sit well with Harbhajan Singh, who has spent good time with Rohit in both the Indian and Mumbai Indians dressing rooms.
“I find that people are going a bit overboard… the way Rohit has been criticised. Cricket is a team sport and one individual cannot take you from one place to another,” Harbhajan said.
“Team India didn’t do well in the WTC final, and yes, you talk about that performance and move on from there. But it is unfair to criticise Rohit alone, that he is not scoring runs, putting on weight, not captaining well. I think he is a brilliant leader,” the veteran of 103 Tests said.
Drawing on his time with Rohit, he recalled the respect the Indian skipper commanded among his peers.
“I have played with him (Rohit) and watched him closely. He commands a lot of respect not only in the MI dressing room but also in the Indian dressing room. So I think it’s unfair to judge him on the basis of recent results.
“He will come good and we need to show faith in him and we need to support him rather than pinpointing that you are not doing this or that.”
BCCI chiefs have a strong history of having their captains’ backs. Saurav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli, all had their respective BCCI chiefs stand tall behind them.
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