"...Since Virat Kohli Stepped Down": Ex Pak Star's Blunt Take On Rohit Sharma's Captaincy

India's failure in the World Test Championship final for the second consecutive occasion has raised many questions on the team's leadership structure. Rohit Sharma, who took over the captaincy after Virat Kohli stepped down last year, isn't in the finest of forms with the bat and has seen his captaincy being questioned too. Former Pakistan batter Salman Butt, in his analysis of India's Test performances under Rohit, said that it's been downhill for the subcontinent giants since Kohli stepped down.

In a video on his YouTube channel, Butt criticised Rohit's post-match comments questioning the scheduling of the WTC final.

"Rohit Sharma asked why the final of the World Test Championship takes place in June. He also stated that it should be moved out of England. These are the debates that happen once you don't get favorable results," Butt said.

"Instead, we should talk about priorities. If the WTC final was India's priority, they should have finished the IPL before 20 days. They should have sent their squad to England 15 days before the final to play a couple of matches against county teams."

The Indian team achieved some phenomenal results in the longest format of the game since Virat Kohli took over the reins from MS Dhoni. But, under Rohit's leadership, Butt feels the team's performances have gone down.

"India have an impressive away record in Tests. However, it has all been downhill since Virat Kohli stepped down as captain. Things haven't been stable since then. They would have won in India anyway, even without having a captain. One can assess captaincy only when the team tours abroad," he said.

Rumours of Rohit's Test captaincy being under the spotlight have also emerged, with the selectors looking to take a call on the matter soon.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Australia Cricket Team Rohit Sharma Virat Kohli Salman Butt Cricket