“I expected more from him (Rohit). In India it is different, but when you do well overseas that is really the test. That is where he has been a little disappointing. Even in the T20 format, with all the experience of the IPL, hundreds of matches as captain, with a mix of best IPL players not being able to get to the finals has been disappointing,” Gavaskar told The Indian Express.

Rohit Sharma was appointed as Team India’s captain succeding Virat Kohli and Team India’s fans were expecting that under Rohit’s leadership it will be India’s chance to win an ICC trophy, however, it has been more than one year and the ICC trophy still eludes Team India.

In recent weeks, the Indian captain has received a lot of flak from fans and former cricketers, including the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, who felt that his leadership in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia was not up to the mark.

However, Harbhajan, who has seen a lot of Rohit in the Indian as well as the Mumbai Indians dressing room, reminded everyone about the kind of respect he commands from his peers.

“I find that people are going a bit overboard… the way Rohit has been criticised. Cricket is a team sport and one individual cannot take you from one place to other,” Harbhajan told PTI in an interview ahead of India’s next Test assignment against the West Indies.

“Team India didn’t do well in WTC final, and yes, you talk about that performance and move on from there. But it is unfair to criticise Rohit alone, that he is not scoring runs, putting on weight, not captaining well. I think he is a brilliant leader,” the veteran of 103 Tests said.

For Harbhajan, the need of the hour is to show faith in Rohit’s leadership ability.

“I have played with him (Rohit) and watched him closely. He commands a lot of respect not only in MI dressing room but also in the Indian dressing room. So I think it’s unfair to judge him on basis of recent results.

“He will come good and we need to show faith in him and we need to support him rather than pinpointing that you are not doing this or that.”

History has been witness to every influential Indian captain getting implicit backing from the BCCI and its most powerful administrator. For Sourav Ganguly, Jagmohan Dalmiya’s support was very vital, while Mahendra Singh Dhoni always enjoyed firm backing from another BCCI strongman, N Srinivasan, throughout his captaincy tenure.

When Virat Kohli enjoyed his best days on the hot seat, he had former CAG and Committee of Administrator (CoA) head, Vinod Rai, endorsing all his decisions.

Harbhajan hoped that Rohit is getting the kind of backing from the BCCI like his predecessors got.

“If you have the support from BCCI, you can work freely. Not just MS Dhoni or Virat Kohli, if you go back a little further, a lot of captains have got support from BCCI presidents of that time.

“Rohit must be getting support from BCCI. I don’t know how much support he must be getting (though). Having that kind of support will help him take right kind of decision at the right time.

“He will get that liberty if he has that support. Support must be there for Rohit like BCCI has given it to all its captains,” the ‘Turbanator’ said.

Updated: 10 Jul 2023, 11:14 PM IST