Former South Africa batter Daryll Cullinan has scathingly assessed Rohit Sharma’s cricketing future, calling the Indian captain a “flat-track bully.”
The 57-year-old Cullinan, who scored over 8,000 international runs for South Africa, also made a blunt remark about Rohit’s physical condition heading into the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, describing him as overweight and out of shape. Cullinan also compared Rohit’s fitness to his teammates, including former captain Virat Kohli.
“Look at Rohit, then at Virat. Notice the difference in their physical condition. Rohit is overweight, and not a long-term cricketer anymore. Rohit is not in a good physical condition for the hard grind of a four or a five-match Test series,” Cullinan told Insidesport.
Rohit has endured a lean patch since India’s home Test season in September, scoring only one fifty in his last 12 Test innings. Following India’s first Test win under Jasprit Bumrah’s leadership in Perth over Australia, Rohit returned in Adelaide in a middle-order spot.
The 37-year-old moved down to No. 6, with KL Rahul partnering Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top. Rohit fell for successive single-digit scores (3 and 6) and was undone by a brute of a delivery from his counterpart Pat Cummins in the second-innings of a 10-wicket defeat.
“I will say it again. Rohit’s best at home but I just wonder if it is not going to backfire India, because they were not the same team in the second Test. I think Rohit is a flat-track bully. Let’s look at record outside India. Everytime he has been to South Africa, I’ve clearly got the feeling that he does not like the short ball.
“(I did not like) the fact that he’s in the middle-order now. He is an opener. He must come and lead from the front,” Cullinan remarked.
Rohit’s Test average has slipped down to 41.54, his lowest in six years since he last played in the middle-order for India in December 2018.
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