The BCCI secretary came out in strong defense of Rohit Sharma
Photo : AP
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- The Congress leader blew up a political storm
- Rohit Sharma found support from the BCCI secretary
- India will face Australia in the 2025 Champions Trophy SF
After a political storm blew following Congress leader Shama Mohamed's post on X (formerly Twitter) criticising Rohit Sharma following India's victory over New Zealand at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday (March 2), the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) secretary Devajit Saikia has come out in strong defence of the Indian captain.
For those unversed, Mohamed sparked outrage on social media after fat-shaming Rohit and labelling the T20 World Cup 2024-winning skipper as the most unimpressive captain India has ever had.
"Rohit Sharma is fat for a sportsman! Need to lose weight! And of course, the most unimpressive Captain India has ever had," wrote the National Spokesperson of the Congress party on X in a now-deleted post.
In a couple of follow-up posts, she defended her stance while being criticised by cricket enthusiasts over her statement.
However, Saikia hit back at her with a strong statement and called it an unfortunate remark to make while the national team was playing in the ICC Champions Trophy. Saika pointed out that such comments can have a negative effect on the player and the team.
"This is a very unfortunate statement. This kind of comment from responsible quarters, especially at a time when the country’s national team is in the middle of a marque ICC tournament is uncalled for. This kind of irresponsible derogatory and baseless statement may have some adverse effect on an individual or the entire team. Therefore, I hope people can refrain from passing comments for their own personal publicity," said the BCCI secretary to Times Now.
Even the Congress party distanced itself from the comment with senior leader Pawan Khera claiming that she was asked to delete the post.
Talking about Rohit, he will lead India in the 2025 Champions Trophy semi-final on Tuesday (March 4) in Dubai against Australia.
Rohit is only the second Indian captain after MS Dhoni to lead the team to a semi-final of all three major ICC white-ball events. Under his captaincy, India played the summit clash of the 2023 Cricket World Cup and won the 2024 T20 World Cup.
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