'You Are Judged By Number Of Trophies': Sunil Gavaskar's Take On Rohit Sharma's Captaincy Ahead Of Asia Cup, World Cup

Sunil Gavaskar reckons that if Rohit Sharma manages to lead India to wins in Asia Cup and ODI World Cup, he will be remembered as one of India's greatest captains.

Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma at a press conference after the BCCI selection committee's meeting, in New Delhi, Monday, Aug. 21, 2023.

Source : PTI

The Indian men's cricket team has two major trophies to play for in the coming months. While the Men in Blue will compete in Asia Cup 2023 set to commence on August 30, they will then will compete in the ODI World Cup at home. With India's failure to bag an ICC trophy since 2013, there will be a lot of pressure on the team to deliver this time around, especially at the World Cup which they will play at home.

Amid all of this, when ex-India captain and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar was asked to give his take on India captain Rohit Sharma, he said that that ultimately it is the number of titles that he is able to win that he will be judged by which makes the coming tournaments all the more crucial for him.

"At the end of the day you are judged by the number of trophies you have won, the numbers of wins you have. Winning these two tournaments will make him one of India's greatest skippers," Gavaskar was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

He then shared that it is the lack of all-round options in the team that might come back to haunt them. He highlighted how in 1983 and 2011 which was when India won the World Cup, they had several all-round options something which this team does not have.

"More than anything else, luck of the day is very important and if you look at the teams (in 1983, 1985 and 2011), they all had top class all-rounders. You had batters who could bowl 7-8-9 overs and bowlers who could bat down the order. That was the biggest plus of those teams. You see MSD's team also: Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag could all bowl. It was the biggest plus. So, any team which has all-rounders (will hold the edge).

"You look at England who won last year's T20 World Cup, look at the all-rounders they had. So, all-rounders are the key element," the 74-year-old said.