Though Rohit Sharma as an on-field captain has been better in the current tournament so far, as compared to the Asia Cup, there are still some questionable decisions overall. The loss to South Africa and the narrow wins/escapes against Pakistan and Bangladesh bring out serious concerns as India head into the semis. A match where they play old and long-term rivals England.

The game will surely not be easy for either side. Team India will have to give it their best shot to get a result and advance to the finals. Though most things have worked out in their favour so far, there will be no margin for error in this match. Rohit Sharma and co. know that it is ‘do or die’ from here on.

The knockout stages are relentless. And the Indian skipper will want to be precise and well-calculated in his approach.

Here are 3 mistakes that Rohit Sharma will hope don’t cost Team India now-

1. Captain fails at the top; no real backups

Whoever said that the captain leads from the front, by example, hasn’t seen most of the modern-day T20 skippers (even 50-over ones at times). Many of them are just in the team to captain the side. They don’t generally bowl, barely bat and their main job is to lead the team. Though, that is surely a tough job, it always helps when the leader leads. And not just with insightful words in post-match press-conferences. But with runs on the board!!

Rohit Sharma has done nothing of such sorts so far. In fact, when there was a recent news of him picking up an injury in training, a section of the fans wouldn’t have even minded him not playing in the semis. His form with the bat has been abysmal. In the 5 games he has played, he has scored  a total of 89 runs.

His highest score is 53 (respectable), which was against the Netherlands. Apart from that, he has had a couple of starts but nothing substantial. The likes of an in-form Shubman Gill and a half-decent Shikhar Dhawan were not even considered for this tournament. Rohit Sharma could have done a FINCH and come slightly down the order if they had alternatives to open the innings.

With that being said, even when Rishabh Pant or Deepak Hooda were in the team, the batting order was not changed to let them bat more. Rohit Sharma opened the innings and once again failed. ‘Try, try until you succ..fail again’ seems to the motto here!!

2. Wasting Deepak Hooda, Yuzvendra Chahal and Harshal Patel; Axar Patel looks lost, Ashwin struggles

Though Deepak Hooda did get the one single game in the tournament and got out for a duck, his true potential could have been utilized by the team. We have seen how well he can perform when the skipper puts some confidence in him. On the flipside, if Rohit Sharma did not have the confidence in him, why was he even picked in the squad!?

Next, Yuzvendra Chahal has been anonymous in Australia since the main-tournament began. He has not been bowling well in recent times. Fans wondered the reason for picking him over an in-form Kuldeep Yadav and a fierce attack-minded Ravi Bishnoi. To add to that, Axar Patel and R Ashwin have struggled in these conditions too.

Axar is having a tournament to forget and fans are missing Sir Jadeja now, more than ever. On the other hand, some fans wonder why Harshal Patel and Deepak Hooda haven’t bowled yet and were missing against Zimbabwe, knowing that qualification had been secured already.

Hardik Pandya is struggling with the bat. However, due to his hard-hitting and contribution with the bat, he is undroppable. However, every time the fans see him play, some of them would be channeling their inner Gautam Gambhir and wondering why Krunal Pandya was not picked over Axar Patel for Australia (better batsman and more experienced while bowling too).

3. Was Pant and DK the best choice?

The Sanju Samson fanbase will not let go of the fact that their choice of wicketkeeper was left out of the squad. That too, when it was clear that Rishabh Pant’s form in white-ball cricket has been really poor. And that Dinesh Karthik was not reliable as a batsman and merely given the role of a slogger or pinch-hitter.

With that being said, the recent form of the Rajasthan Royals skipper has raised a lot of questions. Favouritism within the squad has always been a concern. Now, if this mistake does cost Team India in the semis or final, Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid will be held accountable. Both will have to answer at that point in time and there will be nowhere to run or hide.