File photo of Rohit Sharma© AFP
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar said that the Indian skipper will have to work hard on his defence and counter-attacking game ahead of the England Test tour later this year, noting that he is not making enough “sacrifices” for “one final burst” in his career like legends Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid did. Manjrekar was speaking on ESPNCricinfo in a video as Rohit battled a poor run of form during the 2024/25 Test season against Bangladesh and New Zealand at home and against Australia away from home during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. His dip in form is worsened tenfold by the fact that India has failed to make it to the ICC World Test Championship final under his captaincy following a 0-3 loss to New Zealand at home, India’s first home Test series defeat at home in 12 years and their 1-3 loss to Australia, dropping the BGT after a span of 10 years.
Speaking on ESPNCricinfo, Manjrekar said, “He has opted out on form (during the Sydney Test) and it is not like things are going to get easier. The next challenge is going to be England. It will be that same line outside the off-stump. That is a headache for the chairman of selectors. He has got to keep it simple and forget the effect those decisions will have. He will have to improve his defence and his counterattack game is not working.”
Sanjay noted that his defence was getting breached heavily on Indian pitches.
“So that is a serious cause for concern. KL Rahul-Jaiswal is a better opening stand looking at Rohit Sharma‘s form,” he added.
“I don’t think Rohit Sharma is making enough sacrifices to have one final burst – the kind of sacrifices Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar made at the end of their careers with regard to fitness and the preparation,” the 59-year-old concluded.
The ongoing 2024-25 season of Tests has been miserable for ‘Ro-Ko’ (Rohit and Virat Kohli), who are India’s most prolific modern-day stars. While Rohit scored just 164 runs in eight matches and 15 innings at an average of 10.93 with best score of 52, Virat scored a shambolic 382 runs in 10 matches and 19 innings at an average of 22.87, with just a century and fifty each.
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