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Isn’t it ironic that Rohit Sharma, who has below-par numbers in IPL between 2017 and 2023 and scored 2489 international runs from 86 matches with an average of 31.11 in that same period, is the captain of the Indian cricket team for the T20 World Cup? He has 100 innings to his name in this period, scored 2337 runs with an average of 24.60, and only 13 fifties. The worst happened in the 2022 season when Rohit made 268 runs from 14 matches with an average of 19.14. He couldn’t even score a single fifty for his team. The average improved in 2023 to 20.75 with 332 runs from 16 games.
Overall, Rohit’s T20 international average isn’t even 30. So, what makes him so special? This year, Rohit scored a century but couldn’t take the Mumbai Indians home. So, is it form or reputation that decides the Indian captain?
When Rohit scored five centuries in the 2019 World Cup, India still couldn’t win while Yuvraj Singh scored five half-centuries and made India the world champions in 2011. Which one was more impactful? A humble Yuvraj then had rated Rohit’s five hundred to be a better show of performance than his but Rohit could have been made the captain.
Nevertheless, captaincy came calling to Rohit in all formats but he wasn’t that desperate to become the captain. But now, it seems he loves the hot seat so much that he isn’t willing to let it go.
After Hardik became the captain of India’s T20 side for more than a year it was given to understand that the all-rounder would lead India in the T20 World Cup. But losing the T20 West Indies series boosted Rohit’s chance once again to become the captain. How he managed to keep his clout intact in the BCCI is a mystery. But it is quite clear that the selectors were under the influence of how he played in the 2023 World Cup wherein India won 10 matches and only lost one game that too in the final against Australia.
In 2022, India lost the T20 World Cup in the semifinals and again lost to Australia in the World Test championship. The only claim to fame of the Indian captain is that he has won five IPL titles for Mumbai Indians and if he was that good a captain, why didn’t Mumbai retain him as a leader? (Stats from Rajesh Kumar)
