Former India head coach Ravi Shastri said that India’s new limited-overs captain, Rohit Sharma, is always fully committed to the team and is quite resourceful with what he has.
He also insisted that Rohit will always do what is best for the Indian team.
On Wednesday, December 8, Rohit was appointed as India’s full-time ODI captain after the right-hander had been given the reins for the T20I format last month, which brought down curtains on Virat Kohli’s nearly five-year tenure as the team’s limited-overs captain, having taken over from MS Dhoni in 2017.
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Shastri opened up about Rohit’s captaincy skills, saying he doesn’t let the moment get the better of him and he always does what is best for the team.
Shastri told The Week: “Rohit is not overawed; he always does what is best for the team. He marshalls all the resources of the team unlike, let’s say, in football.”
The former captain, who joined Team India in 2014 as a director before getting promoted as the head coach in 2017, also recalled his tenure with the side and mentioned that Kohli and Rohit were always going to be the next big thing in Indian cricket after Dhoni’s retirement.
He further said that it was overwhelming to witness how Rohit and Kohli evolved into two of the world’s all-format batters over the years while highlighting the achievements during his tenure, particularly winning Test series in Australia twice.
Shastri stated, “We are two people with a similar mindset. We have a similar wavelength. In 2014, when I first came in, there was only one big player – MS Dhoni. Who else was there? Who was superstar material? Virat, and maybe Rohit Sharma, in white-ball cricket.”
He signed off by saying, “To see these two guys come through and become great players in red- and white-ball cricket, to have a great fast-bowling attack, to beat Australia in their backyard – there have been so many firsts with this team. It is overwhelming.”
