Sourav Ganguly Destroys Rohit Sharma Despite Champions Trophy Win

India’s former captain, Sourav Ganguly, has criticized the national side’s performance in the red-ball format as he reckoned that Rohit Sharma should also shoulder the responsibility in the future. He has backed the Nagpur-born to lead the blue brigade in the upcoming five-match Test series.

The Indian side has lost two successive red-ball series at home and away against New Zealand and Australia to fail to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2024-25 final, which at one point looked near their reach.

Ex-India captain not satisfied with national side’s red-ball performance

Under Jasprit Bumrah, the stand-in captain, India won the opening Test of the BGT 2024-25 at the Optus Stadium in Perth by 290 runs but ended up losing the series by a 3-1 margin. Ganguly compared their white-ball side to the Test team.

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“In one-day cricket, they are unbeatable. When you look at Indian cricket in the white ball, you can have two teams, which will beat any team in the world at the moment. You see the T20 side—there is no Rohit Sharma, no Virat Kohli, no Shreyas Iyer, no KL Rahul, no Shubman Gill—and they still hammer everyone.” Sourav Ganguly addressed.

“They went to South Africa and won all the games. England came here, and they hammered England. So, 30 players can wear Indian shirts in white-ball cricket and win games for India. But it is the same in red-ball cricket? I am not sure yet. That culture needs to come back.” The former Bengal batter highlighted.

Sourav Ganguly lays down India’s challenges for England series

The last red-ball series in 2021-22 in England for the Indian side ended in a draw, after their defeat in the fifth rescheduled game at Edgbaston. It was 2007 when the Blue Brigade last won a Test series in England, and that came with a margin of 1-0 in three games.

Sourav Ganguly has urged the national side to be away from the swing and seam movement of the country and feels Rohit can lead the side in the series, despite calls of him getting dropped from the longest format.

“Once this series finishes, he must put on his thinking cap because we have five Tests against England. That is going to be another hard series, like the way it was in Australia. It is going to seam, it is going to swing, and England are a good side at home. India needs him to perform with the red ball.” Sourav Ganguly claimed.

Sourav Ganguly backs Rohit Sharma to shoulder India’s Test captaincy

Ganguly, on the final day of the Revsportz Trailblazers 3.0 Conclave, claimed that Rohit had carried the intent to do well in the red-ball future and also pointed out the areas for improvement in the future.

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“I think he is a much better player than just scoring 30s and 40s in 50-over cricket. He will still score at a very good strike rate. And if you remember the hundred he got against England in Cuttack, he was brilliant.” The former left-handed opening batter expressed in the interaction.

He felt that because of the national side’s depth in the white-ball batting, Rohit would have the freedom to play his natural game and take the responsibility of putting big scores.

“As much as quick starts are required because India bats very deep—Ravindra Jadeja bats at No. 8, Axar Patel bats at five—he can have that freedom at the top. But I think he is a much better player than that. I was reading Mr. Gavaskar saying that Rohit should not just look at 20s and 30s but bat 25-30 overs and get to a big score.” Sourav Ganguly commented.