Sanjay Manjrekar expressed his concerns, questioning whether Rohit Sharma is overly focused on making an impact as a captain rather than prioritizing his performance as a batter in the ongoing Test series against England.
Manjrekar, the former Indian batter and commentator, stressed the importance of Rohit excelling in his role as a batter, as he could not manage even a total of 100 runs in the first two Test matches of the ongoing five-match Test series against England.
He also highlighted the challenges that come with leadership, where many factors are often beyond one's control, while recalling MS Dhoni's 'process is more important than the result' statement.
Sanjay Manjrekar was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo: “I just wonder whether Rohit Sharma is getting too caught up in trying to make an impact as a leader. It’s got to be Rohit Sharma the batter first and then the captain because when you’re captain, most things are beyond your control.”
He added, “Try and do the right things and hold the words of MS Dhoni. You do the process and wait for things to happen, but batting is something that’s within his control very much.”
As India is set to face England in the third Test in Rajkot on February 15, Manjrekar wants the senior opener to get commendable runs for his team. He said, “If Rohit Sharma becomes the Rohit Sharma of a couple of years back, especially the one that we saw in England in that full series would be great.”
He signed off by saying, “The Rohit Sharma that we saw in the first Test match in the home series against Australia. He’s got to go back to where he looked like a batter who looked supreme in Test matches. We want Rohit Sharma getting runs.”
(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)
