‘You are judged by the number of trophies’: Sunil Gavaskar’s outspoken take on Rohit Sharma’s captaincy | Cricket News

India captain Rohit Sharma has his legacy as captain in limbo as the international will embark on two adventurous trips in the Asian Cup and ODI World Cup. India's failure to win an ICC title over the past decade has seen numerous changes in leadership. Virat Kohli took the Indian team to new heights but failed to secure an ICC title as a skipper. When asked about Rohit's legacy as captain, Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar said the hitman would be judged by the number of trophies he would win.

“Ultimately you are judged by the number of trophies won and the number of wins. Winning these two tournaments will make him one of the best skippers in India,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

Gavaskar also shared his opinion on the Indian team's preparation for the World Cup. While many pundits agree that enigma #4 is one of the team's biggest problems in the ODI format, Gavaskar believes the lack of all-rounders remains an issue.

“More than anything, the luck of the day is very important and if you look at the teams (1983, 1985 and 2011) they all had top-notch all-rounders. They had batters who could throw 7-8-9 overs.” and bowlers who could break the order. That was the biggest asset of these teams. You also see the MSD team: Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag were all able to bowl. That was the biggest plus. So every team that has all-rounders (will keep the lead).

“Look at England who won the T20 World Cup last year, look at the all-rounders they had. So all-rounders are the key element,” said the 1983 world champion.

Gavaskar also thinks India needs a bit of luck to be at the top of the tournament. Citing the 2019 semi-final match against New Zealand as an example, the legendary cricketer said if the game had ended in a single day things could have been different for Kohli's men.

“We have enormous talent, but in the knockout stages you need a bit of luck that day. If you look at our situation in the knockout stages where we lost, we were unlucky almost every time.”

“At the last World Cup (2019) we had a game (semi-final against New Zealand) that lasted until the second day. If it had gone all day we might have had a different story because the next day the conditions were bad and the NZ bowlers were good at bowling. I think you need a bit of luck on that day. I mean, there are four to five very good teams, so you need luck that day.”