Asia Cup: Rohit Sharma needs to 'sharpen his captaincy,' says Shoaib Akthar

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akthar has asked Rohit Sharma to "sharpen his captaincy" after India's recent loss against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup 2022.

After winning both their group games, Team India has lost two out of their three Super Four games. Ahead of their final fixture against Afghanistan, a lot of permutations and combinations need to go Rohit and Co's way and Akhtar believes India do not have a lot of chances of making it to the final.

"India haven't played all that badly, but they haven't done well and fans are within their rights to get frustrated. However, I feel that there is a rise after every fall and it might help India in the World Cup," Akthar was quoted as saying on his YouTube channel.

Akthar, who played 221 games for Pakistan, across formats, also pointed out that Rohit needs to figure out his best combination ahead of the T20 World Cup 2022, which is due to be played in Australia in Oct-Nov.

"India shouldn't be disheartened, but they need to learn quickly. They need to find their best combination and Rohit Sharma needs to sharpen his captaincy and stay patient," added Akthar.

The 47-year-old Akthar also predicted that Sri Lanka and Pakistan as the two finalists of the ongoing Asia Cup in the UAE.

"If Pakistan lose both their next two matches, then India can qualify, but I don't think India have a chance. As per me, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will play in the final," said Akthar.

India need to stop experimenting, urges Sunil Gavaskar

Meanwhile, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has advised Team India to stop their experiments and end the discussion about 'workload management' in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup.

Gavaskar also urged India to play their full strength against Australia and South Africa at home to give the first-choice players enough game time under their belt ahead of the marquee tournament.

"It has not come about (sync) because you haven't had the same team playing. You get into a sync when the whole team is playing. You try to experiment, there is nothing wrong with that.

"There are always 3 or 4 places up for grabs in a team and in the process of trying to identify those players, you try to go in with different teams. What that did was obviously, you know, when other players come back into the team, the sync will take a longer time," Gavaskar said in an interview.

India are scheduled to host Australia and South Africa in a three-match T20I series from Sept. 20 to Oct. 4 before flying Down Under for the T20 World Cup.