New Delhi : Former all-rounder Yuvraj Singh backed India skipper Rohit Sharma's leadership skills despite two consecutive series losses against New Zealand and Australia in Tests at home and away respectively.
As a captain, Rohit has seen some embarrassing lows as of late. Just before the Test series against Australia, India lost their first home Test series in 12 years, to New Zealand by 0-3. This was also their first-ever whitewash in a home Test series of three matches or more.
"Gautam Gambhir needs to be given more time as he has just come into the system. Rohit won us the T20 World Cup and he was the captain when India reached the World Cup (ODI) final. Mumbai Indians won 5 IPLs under Rohit's captaincy. He stepped down in the last Test (of BGT) to give someone else the chance, how many captains have done that in the past? I look at what he has done in the last 3-5 years, one tournament can't decide. For me, the series defeat at home was more disappointing as India losing 3-0 against New Zealand was tougher," Yuvraj Singh said during an event.
Rohit's captaincy has been a mix of memorable highs and some extremely disappointing lows. Be it a 10-match winning streak during the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup at home, which concluded with a loss to Australia in the final or India's redemption with an ICC T20 World Cup title win in 2024 at Barbados, Rohit's captaincy has given fans plenty of positives. Under him, the team also made it to the final of the ICC World Test Championship 2023, where they lost to Australia.
However, since the second half of 2024, luck seems to have deserted the 'Hitman' both as a batter and captain. In the 2024/25 Test season which started with the home series against Bangladesh, Rohit scored just 164 runs in eight matches and 15 innings at an average of 10.93 with the best score of 52. During the recently-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he could make just 31 runs in three Tests with best score of 10. His form struggles were such that he opted out of the final Test at Sydney.
In the 2024 calendar year, Rohit lost six Tests, including four matches at home. This led to a decline in Rohit's Test record as captain, winning 12 and losing nine, while three ended in a draw.