Rohit Sharma has led the Indian team to 9 wins in 9 matches in Cricket World Cup 2023. He continues to draw praise from former cricketers like Gautam Gambhir.
With 9 wins in 9 matches, Rohit Sharma’s Indian team has left no stone unturned in their bid to win the ODI World Cup after a gap of 12 years. India have been the most dominant side in the league stage of the tournament, going into the semi-finals unbeaten. While there isn’t a gigantic difference between the players that were there in the 2019 World Cup, in comparison to 2023, former India star Gautam Gambhir feels it’s Rohit’s captaincy that has gotten the team to perform at its best.
In a chat on Star Sports, Gambhir pointed out how some of the previous captains who led India didn’t quite lead the way Rohit has.
“Look, there is nothing which has changed from 2019 to 2023. There were so many changes that happened in 2019 as compared to the least amount of changes that has happened in 2023. A good captain and leader give you security, which makes the dressing room secure, not only for himself but for the other 14 players as well. And Rohit Sharma has done that. That’s why he has won five IPL trophies; that’s where his winning ratio when he started playing all those international games has been fabulous. If you go by the stats and the trophies, he ticks all the boxes. But the most important thing is he has made that dressing room a very secure dressing room.
“When the captain comes out and talks in his post-match presentation that he believes in his players and gives them longer runs, it makes you believe how much your captain is backing you. And that is the difference between Rohit Sharma as a leader, compared to some other captains that have captained previously for India,” Gambhir said in a chat on Star Sports.
Australia great Matthew Hayden, who was also a part of the chat, highlighted the ‘aggressive mindset’ Rohit has brought to the Indian team.
“Rohit Sharma has been really aggressive in this World Cup tournament. When you think about the mindset of what that means for his side, one is he has made the batting look easy, and two is he has a strike rate of 130 inside the powerplay. That has allowed the middle order, especially Virat Kohli, to just set out and put on that computer brain of his and work out exactly what needs to happen. He’s been a marquee player for India for some time, missed out in 2011, mind you, come 2023 he is not missing out,” said Hayden.