Harbhajan Singh backed India captain Rohit Sharma’s leadership and said that people are going "overboard" with their criticism of his captaincy.
The great Sunil Gavaskar and other former cricketers have been particularly critical of the Indian skipper in recent weeks, believing that his leadership during the World Test Championship (WTC 2023) final against Australia was below par.
Meanwhile, Harbhajan Singh, who played with Rohit Sharma for India and also for Mumbai Indians, said that the batter commands great respect from his peers.
"I find that people are going a bit overboard... the way Rohit has been criticized. Cricket is a team sport and one individual cannot take you from one place to another. Team India didn't do well in the WTC final, and yes, you talk about that performance and move on from there. But it is unfair to criticized Rohit alone, that he is not scoring runs, putting on weight, and not captaining well. I think he is a brilliant leader," Harbhajan told PTI.
Harbhajan Singh also said that currently, the Indian team needs Rohit Sharma’s leadership.
"I have played with him (Rohit) and watched him closely. He commands a lot of respect not only in the MI dressing room but also in the Indian dressing room. So I think it's unfair to judge him on the basis of recent results.
He will come good and we need to show faith in him and we need to support him rather than pinpointing that you are not doing this or that,” he added.
Previously, Indian captains enjoyed backing from the BCCI head honchos as Sourav Ganguly got huge support from Jagmohan Dalmiya, and MS Dhoni had N Srinivasan backing him up to the hilt.
Harbhajan hoped that Rohit is getting the kind of backing from the BCCI like his predecessors got.
"If you have the support from BCCI, you can work freely. Not just MS Dhoni or Virat Kohli, if you go back a little further, a lot of captains have got support from BCCI presidents of that time. Rohit must be getting support from BCCI. I don't know how much support he must be getting (though). Having that kind of support will help him take the right kind of decision at the right time.
He will get that liberty if he has that support. Support must be there for Rohit like BCCI has given it to all its captains," the veteran of 103 Tests said.
Rohit Sharma will lead India in two-Test series and three ODIs against West Indies which begins from July 12 onwards.
(PTI inputs)
