IND vs SL: “Probably The Pressure Of Captaincy” – Gautam Gambhir On Rohit Sharma's Change In Form

Former India National Cricket Team opening batsman Gautam Gambhir cited the pressure of captaincy as the real reason behind the change in batting form of the India National Cricket Team captain Rohit Sharma.

Rohit Sharma played a terrific knock in the first ODI of the ongoing three-match series against Sri Lanka as he smashed brilliant 83 runs off 67 balls, with 9 fours and 3 sixes, in Guwahati. However, in the second match in Kolkata, he managed to contribute just 17 runs off 21 balls, with 2 fours and 1 six, in India’s run-chase.

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Rohit Sharma, who is regarded as a modern-day batting great, has not smashed a century in international cricket for a long period of time. His last ODI ton came in January 2020 against Australia, his last Test century came against England in September 2021 and his last T20I hundred came way back in 2018 against the West Indies.

During a discussion on Star Sports ahead of the second ODI, Gambhir was asked about the reason behind the change in Rohit’s form. He responded that the pressure of expectation and captaincy is taking a toll on Rohit. He also said that the 35-year-old was “pretty ordinary” in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.

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“Probably the pressure of captaincy. That’s all I can think of. The pressure of expectation as well, because when you are the captain of the side, you are charged every day not only by your performance but by your team’s as well. That is what we had seen in the previous T20 world cup as well. Though I like Rohit’s approach and I have said so many good things about his batting, in the previous T20 World Cup I thought he was pretty ordinary. Probably it’s the pressure of captaincy,” Gambhir said on Star Sports.

He is invested so heavily in Test, he might have taken his eye off in white cricket – Sanjay Manjrekar on Rohit Sharma

During the same discussion, former India National Cricket Team batter Sanjay Manjrekar said that he believes that the India all-format skipper Rohit is heavily invested in the longest format of the game and hence he has taken his eyes off limited-overs cricket.

“Last couple of years, he has been very focussed on Test match cricket. They had a great tour of England where he got runs. Maybe because he is invested so heavily in Test, he might have taken his eye off in white cricket.”

India National Cricket Team defeated Sri Lanka National Cricket by 4 wickets in the second ODI match to seal the series victory. The third and final ODI will be played at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday, January 15.

Also Read: IND vs SL: “Rohit Sharma Is Pretty Clear That’s Where He Wants Me To Bat” – KL Rahul On Batting At No.5 In ODIs

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