Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar has linked Rohit Sharma's poor batting form in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to the T20 team's victory in the 2024 World Cup last year. He feels the knock-on effect of India's title win is still visible, affecting Rohit's batting.
Rohit Sharma had a terrible spell in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, amassing just 31 runs in three Tests at an average of 6.20. He came into the series on the back of a disappointing Test season in which he scored just 133 runs in 10 innings at an average of 13.30.
His poor returns hurt India's performance as the team needed him to score and show experience in the harsh Australian conditions. As a result, there are speculations about his retirement from the longest format of the game.
Rohit Sharma's poor form over India's T20 World Cup 2024 win – Sanjay Bangar
While speaking on Star Sports' 'Follow the Blues', Sanjay Bangar spoke about Rohit Sharma's worrying form. Bangar argued that the form of a captain and a team tends to dip when they win a big title.
He cited the example of India's 1983 World Cup title win, where India were beaten by West Indies in the series immediately after winning the title against the same opposition. He also gave the example of 2011, when the team endured a difficult period after their iconic victory.
“This happens when any captain wins the World Cup, be it T20 or ODI. I remind you of the 1983 World Cup, Kapil Dev's team beat the West Indies, and then the West Indies came to India and- they knocked”, Bangar. observed.
“In 2011, we won the 50-over World Cup and the timing went very badly from 2011 to 2013. There is probably a slight training effect of that previous moment remaining and things like this happen once or twice in decades . slight training effect of this?” he argued.
Sanjay Bangar wants Rohit Sharma to return to domestic cricket
There has been a lot of talk about Rohit Sharma returning to domestic cricket to regain his red ball form. Sanjay Bangar has advised Rohit Sharma to follow the path of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara and play domestic cricket.
“There has been a lot of talk about playing domestic cricket. (Cheteshwar) Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have also been dropped and their stature is neither smaller nor bigger than Rohit Sharma. Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara are sweating on the dusty ground even today. He's going to have to show that kind of hunger,” Bangar said.
Both Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have been regulars in domestic cricket since being dropped from the national teams. Pujara has also had a hand in domestic cricket. Rahane has been in blistering form recently in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Rohit Sharma's figures from India's win in T20 World Cup 2024
Since India's victory in the T20 World Cup 2024, Rohit Sharma has had a continuous period of poor run in Test cricket. Since winning the title, Rohit has scored just 164 runs in eight Tests at an average of 10.93.
He has already retired from the T20I format after India's victory in the T20 World Cup but is still an active player in Tests and ODIs. Rohit also played three ODIs since India's T20 World Cup victory, in which he scored 157 runs at an average of 52.33 and a strike rate of 141.44.