'He should not lose focus with regards to batting', Saba Karim warns Rohit Sharma after the latter being named all-format captain

India have been in red-hot form at home since the start of February. They had beaten West Indies in both ODIs and T20Is by 3-0 margin, and then, swept Sri Lanka with the same scoreline. Rohit Sharma, after returning from injury, took key decisions as the captain on almost every occasions, and will be looking to carry the momentum in the impending two-match Test series against Sri lanka, starting from March 4 in Mohali.

However, despite being known as one of the brutal hitters of the cricket balls around, has a highest score of 44 in his last six T20I innings.

In a recent "Khelneeti" podcast, India’s former wicket keeper-batter Saba Karim came up with an interesting opinion on Rohit. Karim opined that Rohit must be mindful of not losing his focus while batting, having been named India captain in all three formats.

“Rohit Sharma is in the XI because of his batting. Captaincy is an additional responsibility. He should not lose focus with regards to batting. Lot of times we have seen that captains are not able to perform as well in their primary skill. This should not happen,” Karim explained.

Speaking about the captaincy affecting a player’s skills, Karim said, “This is just the starting phase for Rohit Sharma. He will gradually realize how important his runs are for the team. His performance will be crucial in Australia (during the T20 World Cup), where the grounds are big and the opposition have top-quality bowlers. So yes, Rohit Sharma needs to work on this area.”

Karim, though, appreciated Rohit’s improvement as a batter, and continued praising him for his leadership skills.

“It feels great to see Rohit Sharma's progress. First, he gave excellent performances in white-ball cricket and he got to learn a lot from there. Along with that, it was in his mind that he has to prove himself as a Test batter.

"His confidence kept on increasing when he started doing that. Since he has become the full-time captain, it seems Rohit has realized that he belongs here, his contribution is extremely necessary both as captain and batter,"

While asserting about Rohit, the captain, Karim stated, “The way he treats the players, the communication level is extremely high, the sort of things he has said about the players in press conferences, the sort of environment he wants to maintain in the team - it feels great to see all that.”

Rohit will be seen in action as the captain of India in Test cricket in the first of the two-match series against Sri Lanka. It will also be Virat Kohli’s 100th Test match.