I Won't be Able to See Rohit Sharma Continue as India's T20I Captain: Shoaib Akhtar

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar criticised Rohit Sharma for his captaincy after India’s debacle in the T20 World Cup semifinal. The Men in Blue topped the Super 12 stage in Group 2 but suffered a crushing 10-wicket defeat against England in the semis at Adelaide Oval. Rohit’s captaincy came under the scanner during the tournament as India didn’t embrace the fearless batting approach which they adopted in the tune-up for the T20 WC.

The 34-year-old made some questionable choices when it came to team selections and the bowling changes in crunch situations. Interestingly, India’s second highest-wicket taker in T20Is – Yuzvendra Chahal didn’t even get a chance to play one match in the tournament.

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Akhtar questioned whether Rohit was ready for the captaincy as he made a big statement that the Indian captain looked a bit depressed.

“Was he ready for the captaincy? I still haven’t received an answer to this question. We all knew that he wanted to be the skipper. But this is not an easy task to do. You have to live and breathe captaincy and also have to sacrifice family life. That is why Rohit should be spending more time with the team which will help him in building the team as well. He just looked a bit depressed and off," Akhtar told Zee News.

The veteran pacer further said he doesn’t see Rohit continue as India’s T20I captain as he feels that the swashbuckling opener might announce his retirement from the shortest format soon.

“With captaincy comes responsibility. If the team performs, you get the credit but when you face criticism, you don’t point fingers at anyone. And Rohit Sharma’s continuation, I won’t be able to see that (mujhse dekha nehi jayegi) because he is close to his retirement in T20 format," Akhtar added.

The 47-year-old suggested that Virat Kohli took some time to get over after losing the captaincy.

“Virat Kohli took so much of time just to realise that captaincy is now gone and that he needs to come of that phase. Yet he took breaks from the game and then somehow, luckily, Pakistan were troubled by Kohli. Now he is in a good space. I think for Rohit Sharma, it has been too much to ask from him," said Akhtar.

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