Former South African cricketer Graeme Smith feels Team India skipper Rohit Sharma needs to hit the refresh button to get back to his best as a batter. He expressed that the right-handed batter needs some runs under his belt in the upcoming matches. Rohit’s batting performance came under scrutiny recently, following India’s loss in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia.
Rohit Sharma could not make much of an impact in the final. He was dismissed for 15 runs in the first innings, followed by a knock of 43 runs in the second. However, he failed to convert the score into big runs. The Indian skipper also had a poor Indian Premier League this year. He averaged 20.75, with two fifties in the tournament.
Speaking to the Times of India, Graeme Smith expressed that Rohit Sharma needs to refresh his batting approach. He added that the batter is going through a rough patch, and needs some runs under his belt. Graeme Smith said,
“One of the biggest challenges of a captain is your own personal performance. The pressure of a leader never goes away. Rohit probably needs to just refresh. His own form hasn’t been probably at a level consistently. We look at the IPL over a number of years now and obviously the WTC final…he is having a bit of a rough patch and often that personal performance can just settle things down a little bit.”
“No one is criticizing his captaincy or leadership style. It’s just obviously on the personal performance side, if he can get some really good scores behind him, it takes a lot of that pressure away,” he added.
Talent cannot replace experience overnight: Graeme Smith
Following India’s loss in the World Test Championship final, some fans and experts have called for a squad revamp. There have been speculations that some senior players will be shown the door, giving an opportunity to the youngsters. However, Graeme Smith is against the overhaul. He expressed that India should approach the transition phase carefully, as experience is important. He said,
“Whenever there’s a failure, it’s always the senior players that take the most heat. That’s always been a natural thing if you go back (in years). I guess that’s up for the Indian selectors to decide in terms of when they start to integrate (youth). If you take out three, four or five of your highest-performing players for a long period of time, all that experience…talent can’t just replace that overnight.”
“There needs to be a slow integration and a plan for these things. Those are also the players that got you to the WTC final. They’ve performed around the world for a consistent period of time to get India to the final. So, based on one game, to criticize them and throw them out, it’s very tough,” he added.
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