India head coach Gautam Gambhir and Test and ODI captain Rohit Sharma haven’t gotten off to the best of starts, at least when it comes to the results on the pitch. In their short while working together, Gambhir and Rohit have lost an ODI series in Sri Lanka and then back-to-back Test series against New Zealand and Australia. However, Gambhir’s childhood coach Sanjay Bharadwaj picked Rohit Sharma as the best captain, stating that youngsters have told him stories about how he is a fun captain to play with.
Given a selection between MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir from his Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captaincy days, Bharadwaj chose Rohit.
“When I talk to the youngsters and players in the team, they tell me that it’s Rohit Sharma,” Bharadwaj said, speaking in an interview with The Raunac Podcast.
“They (youngsters) tell me that he (Rohit) backs you a lot. It is a lot of fun playing with him. He himself is a fun-loving person, so it is fun playing with him, they say,” Bharadwaj said about Rohit.
Rohit Sharma’s future as India’s captain, particularly in Test cricket, has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks. The 37-year-old opted to sit out for the fifth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, having scored 31 runs in five games till that point.
In three Tests Down Under, India lost two and drew one under Rohit.
After guiding India to their first major ICC trophy in 11 years with the T20 World Cup 2024 triumph, Rohit has endured a difficult time as captain, also suffering an embarrassing 0-3 home series whitewash against New Zealand.
However, while his Test future is up in the air, Rohit will still captain India in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which will be a big litmus test for him and Gambhir’s partnership at the helm of Indian cricket.
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