Farhan Akhtar bats for Rohit Sharma: Done so much for Indian cricket

Mumbai, Jan 4: India’s T20 World Cup winning captain Rohit Sharma has found an admirer as he struggles through a lean phase. On Saturday, Bollywood multi-hyphenate Farhan Akhtar took to his Instagram, and lauded Sharma for his selfless nature of putting the team ahead of his pursuit for getting his form back.

Farhan shared a low resolution picture of Sharma in action, as he penned a long note alongside the picture. He wrote in the caption, “Just have to get this off my chest. This guy has done so much for Indian cricket and captained our team incredibly well and successfully over the years. His skill with the bat speaks for itself and there have been innumerable innings in which he’s shown us the elite level he performs at”.

Farhan said that the sport is a witness to the greatest batsmen and bowlers struggling for form, and at times the fans have secretly wished that they would take a break, find their form in domestic cricket or the nets, then make a comeback.

He further mentioned, “Yes, this sport can be cruel and you’d be hard pressed to think of someone, more so a captain, who did that voluntarily. Now here’s a guy who’s putting his team's chances of a win ahead of himself finding form and instead of being applauded for his selflessness, the majority is tearing him down. Ask yourself, ‘Why would anyone do this again if this is how the world responds to a man thinking of the larger cause than his own glory?’ @rohitsharma45 You’re a superstar”.

“You know what you’re doing and I know you won’t let the negativity get you down but just want to say thank you for showing the world that you put team before individual. It’s a hard thing to do and only the strongest of mind and heart can do it. That’s what makes a great leader. See you back on the field soon”, he added.

Sharma’s captaincy during the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy has been heavily criticised, more so for his lack of support to the team through the bat. The Australian cricket team has dominated team India for the better part of the series so far. Team India won the first match of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy under Jasprit Bumrah’s captaincy. However, the team failed to capitalise in the matches that followed after the skipper duties were transferred to Rohit Sharma.

Sharma, who realised team India’s dream of owning a World Cup trophy in June 2024 after the T20 World Cup win, has failed to deliver in the ongoing test series , and appeared clueless in the face of inconsistent batting order which collapses easily under high pressure from the Australians.

For the last test in the series, Sharma has been rested leaving the spot of the skipper to Bumrah. India’s dismal performance in the batting department for the first innings left the fans of ICT heartbroken as the team managed to score just 185 runs. However, the team excelled in the bowling department restricting the Australians to 181.

With a lead of 141 runs in the 2nd innings India has scored 137 runs for 6 wickets (at the time of filing of this report) with key batsmen having wrapped up their innings. Rishabh Pant emerged as India’s top scorer in the 2nd innings. With the last test, India has to level the series by winning the game, to keep the window open for the upcoming edition of the WTC. For team India to qualify for WTC, Australia will be required to lose to Sri Lanka in their upcoming test series even after levelling the ongoing test series.