Graeme Smith: Give Rahul Dravid a fair opportunity, Rohit Sharma needs to refresh

Graeme Smith, a famous South African cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for South Africa in all formats, has talked about Rahul Dravid, an Indian cricket coach and former captain of the Indian national team, as well as Rohit Sharma, an Indian international cricketer and the current captain of India’s men’s cricket team

.In an interview with the Times of India (TOI), he talked about South Africa (SA20) and India’s loss in the WTC (World Test Championship) Final against Australia. The South African cricketer said that the two Indian cricketers, Rahul and Rohit, need time to take Indian cricket to new heights.

Graeme Smith said that Rohit needs to spend some time out of the game as he struggles with form. He said that Rohit needs to refresh himself before returning to play cricket. 

Smith told TOI, “One of the biggest challenges of being a captain is your own personal performance. The pressure on a leader never goes away. Rohit probably needs to just refresh. No one is criticizing his captaincy. It’s obviously on the personal performance side, if he can get some really good scores behind him, it takes a lot of that pressure away.”

Smith also talked about Indian head coach Rahul Dravid. He said that Dravid deserves more time to rebuild the squad. He acknowledged that India lost two ICC knockout games under Rahul Dravid. 

India lost the T20 World Cup semi-final to England in 2022, and the WTC final to Australia this year. Smith said, “The biggest challenge in India for a leader is balancing squads, balancing your tour schedules, and the different formats. He’s a quality man and a quality performer. You have got to give him a fair opportunity to rebuild India.”

Currently, Smith is planning for the next edition of SA20. The Indian cricket team will tour South Africa in December 2023.