Former Australia batsman Dean Jones feels Rohit Sharma's rare talent is undisputed but his defensive skills are letting him down in Test cricket. Barring captain Virat Kohli, none of the specialist Indian batsmen could negotiate the potent South Africa pace attack in the two Tests that the visitors lost to concede the series.
Sharma, who was picked ahead of vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane on "current form", too failed to justify his selection mustering 78 runs in four innings at 19.50.
"I look at him and he is technically sound. But the first thing that goes wrong in your game is your defense, and his (Sharma's) defensive skills are letting him down," Jones said.
"In Test cricket, 70 percent of batting is about your defence and in one-dayers it is 40 percent. So his defensive skills are letting him down. He has got to take pride in his defensive skills like Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and even Virat Kohli," he added.
Sharma went into the South Africa series at the back of scintillating form against Sri Lanka at home, where he smashed a third double hundred in ODIs and a joint-fastest century in T20 Internationals. Considering the touch he was in, the team management preferred him over Rahane.
Jones said India needed a tough tour like South Africa to sort out their team selection.
"You need to have these kind of tours to sort out your composition, to find out whether they are good enough or not. So may be there has been too much reliance on his (Sharma's) ODI form but all in all you have to have a series like this to find out if they are good enough.
"If he misses out in the next series, Ravi (Shastri) and Kohli can say 'we gave you the opportunity'," said the 56- year-old, who was in the capital to promote the 'Visit Victoria' education and tourism campaign.
Former India captains like Ajit Wadekar and Bishan Singh Bedi attributed India's surrender in South Africa to lack of preparation and the fact that they went into the series opener at Newlands without a warm-up match.
Jones, however, has a different take on the touchy topic.
"The modern-day schedules are such that often there is no time for a warm-up game. But why should you only rely on that? I have spoken to the likes of VVS Laxman, who tell me he, Dravid and Tendulkar used to start preparing three months before touring Australia.
"Dealing with the bouncing ball and so on. So the players have got to take the responsibility individually (when it comes to preparation)," said Jones, who represented Australia in 52 Tests and 164 ODIs.
In India, he is best-known for his 210 in only the second tied Test in history, at Chennai in 1986.
The series in South Africa out of their grasp, Jones feels it is still not time to judge the current Indian team, which is scheduled to tour England and Australia later this year.