Former India head coach Ravi Shastri made a huge statement when he put Rohit Sharma on par with legendary MS Dhoni when it came to captaincy. This comes after Rohit Sharma retired from the T20Is post leading India to the T20 World Cup 2024 win recently.
Rohit has enjoyed a successful run as skipper across formats since taking over the mantle. Rohit led India to the ICC World Test Championship and ODI World Cup finals in 2023, finishing second to Australia.
Interestingly, Rohit has only lost 12 of India's 62 T20Is, with a win percentage of 79.03, the highest among all captains who have led in at least 60 games.
Ravi Shastri lauded Rohit Sharma’s tactical acumen in captaincy and said that Rohit will go down as one of the best captains alongside MS Dhoni in Indian cricket history.
“As a tactician, let’s not forget that he’s (Rohit) been an outstanding guy. He’ll go down as one of the best captains ever alongside Dhoni. If you ask me who’s better, I’d say both are on par when it comes to tactics in the white-ball game. I can’t pay a bigger compliment to Rohit than that because you know what MS has done and the titles he has won.
Rohit is not far behind and I thought tactically he was just outstanding in this year's (T20) World Cup. Just the calmness, the ability to get a (Jasprit) Bumrah or a (Hardik) Pandya, or even an Axar Patel at just the right time when needed was great to see,” Shastri said on ICC Review.
Not only this, but Ravi Shastri hailed Rohit Sharma as a giant of white-ball cricket. His 14,846 runs, three double hundreds, 33 hundreds, and 87 fifties in ODIs and T20Is combined confirm Shastri’s claim.
To add to that, he is a two-time ICC Men’s T20 World Cup (2007 and 2024) and ICC Champions Trophy winner and holds the record for most sixes in the shortest format.
“I think a giant in the white-ball game. One of the all-time greats. One of the best who have ever played. Will walk into any white-ball team they pick, irrespective of the era. Just because of the dynamic ability he has at the top.
The thing with Rohit Sharma is he plays the big shots, he scores quickly, but they're all cricketing shots. What amazes me, there's not an element of sloppiness. I mean, it just shows how much time he has on his hands to play the best and the power – people forget that this man is explosive. He's got power,” said Shastri.
Shastri also shared that Rohit Sharma’s explosive batting at the top sets him apart from his peers. He added that apart from his audacious pull shots against pacers, Rohit’s ability to destroy spinners makes him a complete batter.
“Just see the scores in that period. Three double hundreds in the one-day game. He's got hundreds in T20 cricket.
Compared to Virat Kohli, you know, Virat Kohli is more finesse, he starts along the ground. This man is explosive. He's got the power to clear any ground in the world and take on the fast bowlers. He's got the shots for the quicks and he can destroy spin as well,” Shastri signed off.
(ICC inputs)
