India captain Rohit Sharma is facing a slump in form. The seasoned campaigner failed to deliver in the series against Australia and also dropped himself from the fifth Test in Sydney. Later, he flopped on his Ranji Trophy return and in the first ODI against England, Rohit scored only two. His form is a matter of huge concern for India ahead of the Champions Trophy and the remaining two matches against England will be a good platform for the 37-year-old to get back to scoring.
In the meantime, the Nagpur-born also faced immense flak on social media. There have been talks of him getting dropped from the Test squad and if he fails to improve, the same discussions will take place for ODIs as well.
Former India international Ravichandran Ashwin believes that the critics will only stop when Rohit delivers with the bat but also noted that Rohit will head to the Champions Trophy with a lot of confidence as he has done well in the format.
“This is not easy. If you look at it from Rohit's point of view, then obviously, it is frustrating for him. He wants to concentrate on the series. He thinks that I've done well in this format and I'd like to continue. I'm going into the tournament with a lot of confidence on the back of the One-Day tournaments that I've played,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“But people will ask questions. The ones who are watching will obviously ask. It's a catch-22 situation. You can't stop these questions. When will they stop? When he performs,” he added.
Notably, Rohit has scored only 166 runs in his 16 innings across formats. As an opener, he plays a crucial role and him getting into form is of the utmost importance. Star batter Virat Kohli too struggled lately and his form will be monitored in the series against England. He missed the opening ODI of the series owning to a knee injury.
