Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has criticized Rohit Sharma’s captaincy after team’s 10-wicket loss against Australia in the second pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday. Chopra reckons Rohit adopted a defensive approach and didn’t use Jasprit Bumrah effectively against in-form Travis Head, who scored a match-winning knock of 140 runs.
Indian batters failed to deliver the goods as they managed scores of 180 and 175 runs in both innings. The visitors also conceded a huge lead of 157 runs with Travis Head doing the bulk of the scoring.
Rohit could not take the game head on and he also failed to lead from the front, returning with scores of 3 and 6 while batting in the middle order.
“You are absolutely right, my friend. Did we bowl bouncers to Head? You have to bowl bouncers on Head’s head. Until we do that. he doesn’t get out and keeps troubling us. He has done that earlier and is doing it now also. He did that in the World Cup final and the WTC final as well,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
Chopra questioned Rohit for only giving a four-over spell to Jasprit Bumrah, despite the ace pacer picking up a wicket.
“Jasprit Bumrah had bowled a four-over spell and had already picked up a wicket in that. So why did he bowl only four overs, and didn’t bowl after that at all? He didn’t bowl in the entire session. So you are 100 percent right when you say that you missed a trick in captaincy. Rohit’s captaincy – let’s call a spade a spade. We saw defensive captaincy. He allowed the match to drift,” Chopra added.
The renowned commentator added that Rohit also bagged an unwanted record as this Adelaide loss was his fourth straight defeat.
“I have brought another list as well – the most consecutive losses by an Indian captain. Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi lost six consecutive matches in 1967. After that, Sachin Tendulkar in 1999, and if you come to the 21st century, MS Dhoni twice lost four consecutive matches, Virat Kohli lost four consecutive matches in 2020-21, and now Rohit Sharma has already lost four consecutive matches,” he said.
“He wasn’t the captain in the Perth match. So that win doesn’t count for him. If we leave the last century, it’s Dhoni, Kohli and Rohit, and the biggest concerning thing, which might not be with anyone else, is three consecutive losses at home. The captaincy has been a little lackluster,” Chopra added.
The third Test match between India and Australia will be played at the Gabba, Brisbane from December 14.
