Indian captain Rohit Sharma made a big remark and lavished praise on the 33-year-old star cricketer and labelled him as the 'crisis man' of the Indian team in an interview which was published just hours after he announced his retirement from Test cricket.

On being asked about the constant criticism against KL Rahul, Rohit slammed critics and claimed it does effect players, who have thick skin. The Indian ODI captain stated that while dealing with criticism is important for a player, he called for unncessary criticism to end.

"I am tired. You guys only start criticism. You all want to run your shop. I have coped with so much unnecessary criticism. If it affected players, the players will be sitting at home and sleeping on his bed. 'I cannot play. This is happening with me. He is abusing me.' We have thick skin. All players have built this. I cannot say it does not fully affect. Some players, it does. It does not effect me. It has been so long. I have been playing for 18 years.

"Dealing with criticism is important. Unnecessary criticism is what I am against. There was no need to say it. People have said so much about me. You cannot defend everything. You will waste your time. My job is to attack. Not my hitting somebody,but by batting," said Rohit in a chat with journalist Vimal Kumar on his Youtube channel.

Rohit came out in strong defense of Rahul and stated that he has been the crisis man for the team in his captaincy tenure and someone who has done everything the team has asked him to. Rohit shut down concerns over Rahul's poor stats.

"You asked about KL.He has been a big player for the last 2-3 years for me. I look at him like a crisis man. Whenever we wanted something from him, he put his hand. Keeping, he did. Batting position he changed. Don't you see this? Nobody says anything

"What is there in numbers. It is very fascinating for people doing stats and watching television. You will not find everyone who has good numbers. If you are producing results, that is what matters," Rohit added.

Rahul was a key part of the Rohit-led Indian team that reached the 2023 Cricket World Cup final and won the 2025 Champions Trophy. In Rohit's captaincy, Rahul has been a consistent member of the Test team and batted in multiple positions.

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