T20 World Cup: Sehwag says Sharma 'didn't look like a world-class captain' against England

KARACHI: Former India batter Virender Sehwag has said that Rohit Sharma didn't look like a world-class captain during the Men in Blue's embarrassing loss to England in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022 at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday.

With the help of their captain Jos Buttler and Alex Hales' merciless batting, England thrashed India by 10 wickets in a one-sided match.

The opening pair were up to their best, scoring 80 and 86 runs, respectively, to propel their team into the competition's championship game, where they will face Pakistan in a rematch of the 1992 World Cup.

The former batter told Cricbuzz that Rohit Sharma's changes while defending the total showed that he was under pressure.

"Rohit didn’t look like a world-class captain today. Some of his decisions like getting Axar to bowl in the powerplay, not giving a second over to Arshdeep, and asking Pant to stand closer to the wicket in Bhuvneshwar’s first over, showed Rohit felt the pressure. We call him the best captain of India or in IPL, but today he didn’t do certain things correctly. And when you feel the pressure as a captain, you make these types of changes on the field," Sehwag said.

The next task for India is a bilateral series against New Zealand that consists of three T20 Internationals and as many ODIs.

Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and Sharma have been rested, and in their place, Hardik Pandya will captain the side in T20 Internationals while Shikhar Dhawan will lead the side in ODIs. On November 18, the tour gets underway in Wellington.