'One Tournament Can't Decide' - Yuvraj Singh Comes in Support of Under-Fire India Skipper Rohit Sharma

Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has come in support of under-fire skipper Rohit Sharma by highlighting his achievements as captain and adding that his leadership skills should not be judge on just one tournament.

Rohit has been under fire after Team India suffered back-to-back Test series defeats which saw them miss out on a third successive World Test Championship final spot. India lost their first home Test series in 12 years, to New Zealand by 0-3, a first-ever whitewash in a home Test series of three matches or more.

A month later, Team India also lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time since 2014, having lost the five-match series 1-3 in Australia. Apart from the team's performance, Rohit has also endured a tough time with the bat in the red ball format.

Rohit captained India to the T20 World Cup in June, but has faced a low since then and the skipper's position in the Test team also have been questioned by some critics. Yuvraj, who acknowledged the New Zealand defeat was a tough pill to swallow, backed Rohit as a captain.

"Rohit won us the T20 World Cup and he was the captain when India reached the World Cup (ODI) final. Mumbai Indians won 5 IPLs under Rohit's captaincy. He stepped down in the last Test (of BGT) to give someone else the chance, how many captains have done that in the past?," Yuvraj Singh said during an event.

"I look at what he has done in the last 3-5 years, one tournament can't decide. For me, the series defeat at home was more disappointing as India losing 3-0 against New Zealand was tougher."

Rohit's captaincy has been a mix of memorable highs and some extremely disappointing lows. While he oversaw India's run to the ODI World Cup final in 2023, Rohit also helped India end their ICC trophy drought in 2024 with the T20 World Cup triumph. The team also reached the WTC Final in 2023, where they lost to Australia.

However, since the second half of 2024, luck seems to have deserted the 'Hitman' both as a batter and captain. In the 2024/25 Test season which started with the home series against Bangladesh, Rohit scored just 164 runs in eight matches and 15 innings at an average of 10.93 with the best score of 52.

During the recently-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he could make just 31 runs in three Tests with best score of 10. His form struggles were such that he opted out of the final Test at Sydney. In the 2024 calendar year, Rohit lost six Tests, including four matches at home. This led to a decline in Rohit's Test record as captain, winning 12 and losing nine, while three ended in a draw.