Rohit probably needs to just refresh, he is having a bit of a rough patch: Graeme Smith

India's all-format skipper Rohit Sharma has come under scrutiny after his side's demoralizing defeat against Australia in the World Test Championship Final earlier this month. However, former South African skipper and icon Graeme Smith has come to the aid of the influential Indian opener.

Rohit Sharma's form with the bat has dipped considerably over the last year, with the Mumbai Indians skipper enduring back-to-back underwhelming seasons in the Indian Premier League. However, it is his lack of runs for the Indian team that is becoming a headache for the team management.

Talking about Rohit's struggles, former South African skipper Graeme Smith reckoned the Indian skipper just needs to refresh. Regarded as one of the greatest Test captains of all time, Smith further remarked that personal form often impacts the captaincy duties as well.

“One of the biggest challenges of being a captain is your own personal performance. The pressure of a leader never goes away. Rohit probably needs to just refresh. His own form hasn’t been probably at a level consistently. He is having a bit of a rough patch, and often that personal performance can just settle things down a little bit.

No one is criticizing his captaincy or leadership style. It’s just obviously on the personal performance side, if he can get some really good scores behind him, it takes a lot of that pressure away,” the Proteas legend said in an interview with The Times of India.

Whenever there’s a failure, it’s always the senior players that take the most heat: Smith

The 42-year-old also shed light on the criticism received by several senior Indian players after their poor outing at The Oval in the WTC Final. While a change of guard seems imminent, Smith believes it needs to be a gradual process, reminding that the current group of players were the reason behind India's run through to the final.

“Whenever there’s a failure, it’s always the senior players that take the most heat. That’s always been a natural thing if you go back (in years). There needs to be a slow integration and a plan for these things. Those are also the players that got you to the WTC final. 

They’ve performed around the world for a consistent period of time to get India to the final. So, based on one game, to criticize them and throw them out, it’s very tough,” he concluded.