A former India cricketer Kartik said captain Rohit Sharma has been the only failure for India in the Afghanistan T20Is so far.
He showed very few signs but chances are high that India captain Rohit Sharma will have mixed feelings after the first two T20Is against Afghanistan. India performed like a well-oiled machine in their final series before the T20 World Cup, winning the first two matches without breaking a sweat to take an unassailable 2-0 lead. Rohit would be mighty pleased with the way youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal put his hand up to repay head coach Rahul Dravid’s faith as the first-choice opener by smashing a scintillating half-century in Indore on Sunday and the way all-rounder Shivam Dube showed his power-hitting in both matches of the series but he would also be disappointed with his own batting performance.
Rohit, on his return to T20I cricket after 14 months, has registered two ducks in the series so far. The Indian captain was run out in the first match in Mohali due to a terrible mixup with opening partner Shubman Gill and on Sunday, he lost his stumps to Fazalhaq Farooqi. It was the first ball of Rohit’s innings and the right-hander danced down the track to hit the left-arm pacer but ended up swinging across the line. The 146 km/h delivery hit the top of Rohit’s off stump.
Rohit’s successive failures with the bat didn’t have any bearing on India’s performance as Jaiswal and Dube displayed breathtaking strokeplay to make a mockery of the 173-run target. India reached home in 15.4 overs with six wickets in the bank.
As soon as the match was over, the cameras turned towards Rohit, who was obviously shaking hands with his teammates. That is when former India cricketer Murali Kartik said Rohit’s twin ducks were the failure for India so far.
‘Captain the only failure’: Kartik on Rohit
“The only failure has been the skipper. Two naughts in two games but he wouldn’t be too worried about that. Back in this format after a long time. Back as captain. He was run out in the first game. Tried to hit a big one today and lost his stumps but India have done well,” Kartik said on commentary.
It was his fifth golden duck in T20I cricket and second as a captain, having incurred a similar fate in August 2022 against West Indies. Overall, it was his 12th duck in the format, which makes him the batter with the most such scores among players from full-member nations. Six of those ducks happened while donning the captaincy armband as he stands second in the all-time list in T20Is after Aaron Finch of Australia (8).
It was not all gloomy for Rohit on Sunday. He also became the first cricketer to play 150 T20Is. “It’s a great feeling [to get 150 T20I caps]. It’s been a long journey, starting in 2007. I think we are very clear about what we want to do and achieve. When you see performances like that, you can feel very proud of it. There’s one thing to talk about it and another to go out and do it. We’ve ticked almost every box,” he said in the post-match presentation.