The former Pakistan captain, Mohammad Hafeez has lauded the contribution of the India captain Rohit Sharma, who has been very aggressive and carefree in his batting, especially in the powerplay, during the Men’s T20 World Cup, in the West Indies and the United States of America (USA).
Last year during an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 game, Rohit spoke about not believing the anchor role in T20 cricket, but doing it himself on the big stage and against a powerful team are different, and the India captain has shown his skillset.
Mohammad Hafeez pointed out how Rohit’s free mindset deserves the ICC trophy for India, as the latter showed his brilliance against Australia in India’s last ‘super-eight’ game in St Lucia, with a 92-run knock in 41 balls, which eventually helped them to win the game by 24-runs.
‘Regardless of the situation, Rohit Sharma was playing selfless’- Mohammad Hafeez
The former Pakistan batter Mohammad Hafeez feels that Rohit Sharma’s leadership has also been spot on in this ninth edition of the tournament, where he didn’t care whether the ball was seaming or swinging, but the aim was only to smash the ball.
‘When you set big goals then your pedigree increases. If I talk about Rohit, India’s leadership deserves to win the World Cup.’ The former Pakistan coach Mohammad Hafeez praised the India captain in a video shared on his ‘X’ handle, formerly known as ‘Twitter’. ‘The way he played unconditional cricket like a champion player. He didn’t care if there was any seam or swing.’
Even though the whole batting line-up has been doing a pretty good job, the retired right-handed batter observes that Rohit’s innings would always look bigger if it get compared with some of the other knocks in the tournament, and his selfless approach has worked in his favor.
‘Special effort and you can’t praise anyone enough when you weigh their performances with Rohit, others efforts would only look smaller. Rohit is the only person at the moment who deserves to win this World Cup for India. It was a Rohit show.’ The former Director of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Mohammad Hafeez reflected. ‘We witnessed one of the best innings from a captain. If you speak about leading from the front. He changed just one thing, there was no doubt about his quality. One thing, he changed within himself was the selfless approach.’
There was a time when India used to go with a timid template in the T20I format, where their design of the batting used to be shouldered mainly on keeping wickets in hand and going berserk towards the backend of the innings. But with time, they realize that other teams have evolved themselves in this way.
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The 43-year-old also sheds light on how the captain’s role in playing the ICC trophies has changed Rohit to be a champion player, rather than focusing on individual landmarks.
‘The way he has evolved with the game, he was an exceptional player but has gone to a great zone just by changing to a selfless approach. The way he played his innings, he planned this last year and started the execution accordingly.’ Mohammad Hafeez remarked. ‘If you see the last 50-over World Cup, he was the standout performer for India. Regardless of the situation, he was playing selfless.’
In six innings during the current T20 World Cup, the India opener has managed to collect 191 runs at a strike rate of close to 160, with a couple of half-centuries and a best score of 92. His next mission will be to face England in the semifinal on June 27, at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.
