The former world-cup-winning India captain Kapil Dev has praised the current national team captain Rohit Sharma for his sheer brilliance in the captaincy during the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States of America, where the team has made their way into the final.
The Blue Brigade have been unbeaten so far in the competition, as they have blown away Ireland, Pakistan, and the United States during the group stage of the competition, before showing their dominance over Afghanistan and Bangladesh in the ‘super eight’ stage of the event.
The question was could India do the same against a comparatively powerful team like Australia or England, and they showed the change the team has brought in their culture and intent under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma? They got the better of the Aussies while earning another win over England in the semi-final.
‘They have done wonderfully well, under the leadership of Rohit Sharma’- Kapil Dev
The former all-rounder of the Indian team, Kapil Dev expresses that given the team has reached the final in the ongoing event, it just tells how good they have been collectively under the captaincy of Rohit.
‘It’s wonderful. If anybody reaches in finals you say how wonderfully they played. Not one name but the entire team. I always believe in a team.’ The former pacer from Chandigarh Kapil Dev remarked in a recent interview to ANI. ‘They have done wonderfully well, under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, the team has done extremely well…’
What India changed in their style of playing T20Is, have been their positive approach. There was a time when they used to keep wickets in hand, and looked to fire towards the back end of the innings, and once they realized were on the wrong side of the game on many occasions, the opponents began to play in a new way, the team changed their T20 cricket.
Someone was needed to take full charge, who would go from the very first ball, without having the fear of failure, as someone whose contribution won’t look quite classic but could prove to be the difference in the game at the end.
In the semi-final, the Mumbai player smashed 57 runs in 39 balls, even on a dry and slow surface in Guyana, to put them in a commanding position from the start, and ended with an individual classic of 57 runs in 39 balls at a strike rate of close to 150, which was decorated with six boundaries and a couple of sixes.
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His captaincy too has been spot on, as Kapil Dev mentioned. The field placements have been quite extraordinary, and he didn’t show any pressure of the situation. He was spot on about using Mohammad Siraj during the group stage games in New York, and once they reached the ‘super eight’ stage and moved to the Caribbean, he straightaway from the very first game brought back Kuldeep Yadav in the team, instead of Siraj.
In the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024, Rohit is the third-highest run-getter with 248 runs in seven innings, at an average of 41.33, and a strike rate of 155.97, with three half-centuries and a best score of 92 runs in 41 balls against Australia. He has also taken his tally to 1211 runs in T20 World Cups, only five behind Virat Kohli, at a strike rate of 132.78, with 12 fifties and one century.
His final aim would be to end India’s 11-year-old drought of winning an ICC tournament, as they face South Africa on June 29, at the Kensington Oval, in Bridgetown, Barbados.