'It was in his mind that he has to prove himself': Karim hails India senior; 'Seems he's realized that he belongs here'

Saba Karim, former India wicketkeeper-batter, has lauded the progress and rise of a senior player and stated that he has realised how important he is to the team.

A day after calling him out for his lukewarm performance with the bat during the India-Sri Lanka T20I series, former India cricketer has now lauded ‘Men in Blue’s' all-format skipper Rohit Sharma for his leadership skills, saying that he has made it all look as if he always belonged here.

Rohit Sharma's batting progress and captaincy lauded by former India player Saba Karim: 'It was in his mind that he has to prove himself'

Ex-wicketkeeper-batter Karim, while speaking on the Khelneeti podcast, was appreciative of the opener's progress and added that success in Test cricket has also contributed majorly to the sharp rise.

"It feels great to see Rohit Sharma's progress. First, he gave excellent performances in white-ball cricket and he got to learn a lot from there. Along with that, it was in his mind that he has to prove himself as a Test batter."

"His confidence kept on increasing when he started doing that. Since he has become the full-time captain, it seems Rohit has realized that he belongs here, his contribution is extremely necessary both as captain and batter."

Saba Karim concluded by speaking highly of Rohit's player management skills.

“The way he treats the players, the communication level is extremely high, the sort of things he has said about the players in press conferences, the sort of environment he wants to maintain in the team - it feels great to see all that,” he added.

Meanwhile, Karim had earlier raised concerns over Rohit's batting, saying: “Rohit Sharma is in the XI because of his batting. Captaincy is an additional responsibility. He should not lose focus with regards to batting. Lot of times we have seen that captains are not able to perform as well in their primary skill. This should not happen.”

Rohit Sharma will be next seen in action during the India-Sri Lanka two-match Test series, which begins on March 4.