Ex-India coach blames T20 World Cup victory for Rohit Sharma's shocking form slump

Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar has linked Rohit Sharma's poor batting form in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to the team's T20 World Cup 2024 win last year. He feels that the drag-on effect of India's title win is still visible which is affecting Rohit's batting.

Rohit Sharma had a torrid time in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy aggregating just 31 runs in three Tests at an average of 6.20. He came into the series on the back of a disappointing home Test season in which he scored just 133 runs across 10 innings at an average of 13.30.

His poor returns affected India's performance as the team needed him to score runs and show experience in the tough Australian conditions. As a result, there are speculations of his retirement from the game's longest format.

Also read: "Would've retired": Rohit Sharma was shown route for his stunning return to form by childhood coach

Rohit Sharma's poor form due to India's T20 World Cup 2024 win - Sanjay Bangar

While speaking on the show 'Follow the Blues' on Star Sports, Sanjay Bangar opened up on Rohit Sharma's concerning form. Bangar claimed that a captain and a team's form tends to go down when they win a big title.

He cited the example of India's title wins in the 1983 World Cup where India were thrashed by West Indies in the series just after their title win over the same opposition. He also gave the example of 2011 when the team endured a tough period after their iconic win.

"This happens when any captain wins the World Cup, whether it is T20 or ODI. I will remind you of the 1983 World Cup, Kapil Dev's team beat the West Indies, and then the West Indies came to India and thrashed them," Bangar observed.

"In 2011, we won the 50-over World Cup and the time went very bad from 2011 to 2013. A slight drag-on effect of that earlier moment probably remains, and such things happen once or twice in decades. So is it a slight drag-on effect of that?" he argued.

Sanjay Bangar wants Rohit Sharma to go back to domestic cricket

There have been a lot of talks of Rohit Sharma going back to domestic cricket to regain his red-ball form. Sanjay Bangar has advised Rohit Sharma to follow the path of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara and play domestic cricket.

"Playing domestic cricket was discussed a lot. (Cheteshwar) Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were also dropped and their stature is neither less nor more than Rohit Sharma. Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara are even today sweating it out on the dusty soil. He will have to show that kind of hunger," Bangar said.

Both Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have been regulars in domestic cricket ever since they were dropped from the national teams. Pujara has had stints in domestic cricket as well. Rahane was in blistering form recently in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Rohit Sharma's numbers since India's T20 World Cup 2024 win

Since India's T20 World Cup 2024 win, Rohit Sharma is having a continued period of lean run in Test cricket. Since the title win, Rohit has scored just 164 runs in eight Tests at an average of 10.93.

He already retired from the T20I format after India's T20 World Cup win but is still an active player in Tests and ODIs. Rohit has also played three ODIs since India's T20 World Cup win in which he scored 157 runs at an average of 52.33 and a strike rate of 141.44.