Rohit Sharma joins Dhoni and Kohli in unwanted captaincy record, faces challenge to buck Tendulkar's trend in Brisbane

Rohit Sharma's challenges as a Test batter and captain persist, with his recent return to the Indian team resulting in a defeat at the Adelaide Oval in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Criticism of Rohit's strategy and choices as a Test captain has intensified, particularly after the embarrassing 3-0 home series loss to New Zealand. With a fourth consecutive loss as captain, Rohit finds himself among the unfortunate few Indian captains who have suffered four consecutive Test defeats.

Rohit joins Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni as captains with four consecutive Test losses, while Sachin Tendulkar and Mansour Ali Khan Pataudi are the two players who have had more. While India managed to win the first game of the BGT under the captaincy of Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit’s losses split across five matches for India continues to put pressure on the out-of-sorts batter.

Kohli suffered four losses as captain back in 2020-21, when he began the year by losing both Tests away against New Zealand, before overseeing the infamous loss in Adelaide that year. He would depart and not participate in the rest of India’s famous comeback victory, but his next match as captain would be another loss, as England won the first match of their tour in Chennai, before Kohli managed to bounce back with a strong captaincy performance in 2021.

MS Dhoni lost four Tests in a row twice in his career, first in 2011 during India’s horror tour of England, followed once again in 2014 in the lead up to his decision to retire from Test cricket later that year and hand over the reins to a young Kohli.

One of India’s first captains in Datta Gaekwad also lost four Tests in a row all the way back in 1959, when India was still finding its feet as a cricket nation. Sachin Tendulkar in his brief stint as Test captain following the resignation of Mohammed Azharuddin lost 5 Tests in a row in 1999-2000, first three losses on the tour to Australia, followed by a 2-0 series whitewash at home against South Africa, before he too resigned from captaincy and made way for Sourav Ganguly.

theless, the record stands with ‘Tiger’ Pataudi, who lost 6 Tests in a row in 1967-68, getting whitewashed on tours of first England then Australia in a difficult schedule for the team in that era. Indian fans will hope that Rohit doesn't come any closer to this number, in desparate need of a positive result at the Gabba in the third Test.