“The resources that you had two or three years ago isn’t quite the same. The challenges as a captain might have doubled for him. The work as a captain would have doubled as opposed to two years ago when everything was nice, set – go out there and do the job,” Shastri said about Rohit’s captaincy on ESPNcricinfo’s Ravi & Raunak programme.
“And then comes the challenge of how do you get them [the team] going, how do you motivate that bunch, how do you create a combination, how do you see who is the best in that lot to fit in and deliver at a certain stage of the game.”
It’s a period in which they have lost players who formed their core in the glory years, there have been retirements, and injuries to key players.
There have been calls for Rohit to take a step back.
Shastri agreed that not being in form with the bat has affected Rohit’s captaincy as well.
“If you start getting on a purple patch where you are scoring runs, the job as a captain becomes much easier, the body language on the field changes, that energy on the field is different as opposed to when you are not getting runs. You can go flat no matter who you are,” Shastri said. “That’s where, as a captain, it is more important that your performances come into play. It is harder now because of the stage of his career, the kind of team that they have.
“The same team could be a terrific team in a year’s time or two years’ time, once they start gelling together. But to get that right mix, that’s the job of the captain.”
