Former Indian World Cup winner Gautam Gambhir heaped praise on Indian skipper Rohit Sharma for playing a selfless brand of cricket in the ongoing marquee event. The 36-year-old has been aggressive in his approach in the powerplay to put pressure on the opponent bowlers, which helps the Indian middle order to take their time in the game.
Rohit Sharma took over the captaincy from Virat Kohli last year across all formats, and he has proven to be an excellent leader. He has led the Indian team to the 8th Asia Cup title in 2023 and the opener has been leading the team from the front with his bat scoring 442 runs from eight innings at a higher strike rate.
Speaking to Sportskeeda, In addition to saying that he could easily have played for the milestones if he had batted for himself, Gautam Gambhir feels that Rohit Sharma sets an excellent example on the field and that his consistency at the top of the order has helped the team get off to a strong start in the tournament.
“I have said this about Rohit Sharma already. Just laughing around with teammates and speaking well about them in the media doesn’t make you selfless. You can still be selfish by trying to look to score your runs. But it is the way you bat or bowl that makes you selfless“
“Rohit said that the team is looking to play aggressively and he has led by example. If he wanted to, he could have easily scored a hundred in 25 overs. So he has been selfless by his actions and not just words.” Gautam Gambhir said
Rohit Sharma breathed new life into Indian cricket after Virat Kohli stepped down as captain following the 2021 T20 World Cup. The Indian captain now has the opportunity to follow the great Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni as the third Indian captain to win the ODI World Cup.
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Gautam Gambhir also highlighted that Rohit Sharma supported Shreyas Iyer in a post-match interview. According to the former cricket player, a captain’s ability to ensure that the players feel comfortable is essential, which would help the players to perform at their best.
“A selfless leader also brings security in the dressing room. He said that ‘Een if Shreyas wouldn’t have performed, I would have backed him.’ This is how you give confidence to the dressing room.
“If you drop someone after three games, the whole dressing room becomes insecure. This is the reason why India have been doing well as they have a leader who is calm and not obsessed,” Gautam Gambhir added.
With India failing to win a single ICC trophy over the last decade or so, many believe that the 2023 ODI World Cup will give them the best chance to win the championship as the conditions would favour the Indian team as they have experienced players in their team and the Rohit Sharma-led side is red-hot favourites to win the title after the impressive performance in the league stage.
