'Captain With Wonderful...' - Ravi Shastri Lauds 'Fearless' Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma has been leading India from the front (x.com)
Ravi Shastri lavished praise on Rohit Sharma for his brilliant captaincy on a pivotal night for the marquee league stage encounter of the ICC World Cup 2023 against England. As India ramped home by 100 runs in Lucknow on Sunday (October 29), the former head coach took note of Rohit's "fearless" attitude and game awareness as a captain.
Rohit aligned his thought process beautifully with an attacking Indian pace attack during the defence of India's insufficient total of 229/9 on a tricky pitch at the Ekana Stadium. When the spinners were expected to rule the roost on a dry pitch, Rohit entrusted the wicket-taking duties to his much-vaunted pace attack of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Mohammed Siraj.
Bumrah built early inroads with a pair of important strikes with the new ball before Shami ran through the English middle-order. The two experienced pacers finished with remarkable figures of 3/32 and 4/22 to bundle out the defending champions for just 129, a disastrous collapse for them that sealed their fate for the tournament.
Shastri Lauds Rohit Sharma's Captaincy
In contrast, India retained their excellent winning run for the competition and pretty much confirmed their spot in the knock-outs stage. Shastri, doing commentary in Lucknow, attributed Rohit's captaincy as a key factor behind Men in Blue's success and backed him to continue with bravery and courage.
"Rohit Sharma is a fearless captain with wonderful bowling rotations. He's a great student of cricket," Shastri, the experienced commentator, said on Star Sports after India's tremendous victory in Lucknow, acknowledging the man's astute captaincy behind the team's winning streak.
Rohit has been leading from the front throughout the tournament by blasting opposition attacks at the top of the order with his influential knocks in India's fortunes.
The white-ball giant smashed the England bowling line-up for a pivotal knock of 87 on a challenging surface to push India to 229/9 on a rare off-day as a batting unit.
The 36-year-old is India's top run-getter with 398 runs in just six innings of the ongoing World Cup, carrying an average of 66.33 with a strike-rate of 119.16.
 "Kashish Chadha")