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'No One Is Criticizing His Captaincy...,' Graeme Smith On Rohit Sharma Poor Performance

image-lj0x1i34India captain Rohit Sharma | Source: Twitter 

Indian captain Rohit Sharma has been in inconsistent form with the bat across formats lately. His recent IPL 2023 campaign was disappointing, as he failed to make a significant impact for the Mumbai Indians. 

Furthermore, he struggled to deliver with the bat in the World Test Championship final against Australia. Commenting on the matter, Graeme Smith, the former captain of South Africa, has emphasized the need for Rohit to rejuvenate his batting form across all formats. 

Apart from his batting form, Rohit Sharma's captaincy has also faced scrutiny following India's defeat against Australia in the World Test Championship final at The Oval. Graeme Smith chimed in, stating that the personal form often impacts the captaincy duties as well.

Here’s what Graeme Smith told the Times of India: 

“One of the biggest challenges of being 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. He is having a bit of a rough patch, and often that personal performance can just settle things down a little bit.” 

The South African believes if the Mumbai batter manages to break shackles and get some runs under his belt, it will take a lot of pressure away from him. 

“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.” 

There needs to be slow integration: Graeme Smith

In the aftermath of the Indian team's disappointing performance in the World Test Championship, several senior players faced criticism from cricket experts and pundits. However, Smith believes that any transition and changes within the player group should be a gradual process.

“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). 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.” 

Notably, India’s senior players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Cheteshwar Pujara failed to make substantial contributions to the team in the WTC final. Similarly, in the bowling department, Mohammed Shami, Siraj, and Shardul Thakur struggled to leave a significant impact.