‘Rohit Sharma will go down as one of the best captains ever alongside MS Dhoni’, says Shastri

With the T20 World Cup final win over South Africa in June, not only did Rohit Sharma break India’s ICC title but the India captain also became the first T20I skipper to win 50 matches in the format.

Ever since he took over the mantle, Rohit has relished a splendid run as captain across formats. Rohit led India to the ICC World Test Championship and ODI World Cup finals in 2023, even as they eventually finished runners-up behind Australia. Interestingly, Rohit has only lost 12 of the 62 T20Is he has led India in, boasting a win percentage of 79.03, the best among all captains who have led in at least 60 games.

Rohit had also surpassed MS Dhoni’s tally of 42 wins for India during the recent T20 World Cup where his side went unbeaten across nine matches for the tile.

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri hailed Rohit’s nous as a tactician, placing him on par with Dhoni who is considered the most accomplished Indian captain with three ICC titles to his name.

“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,” Shastri told on The ICC Review.

“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.”

White-ball giant

Shastri, who played a crucial role in resurrecting Rohit’s Test career by promoting to open during the inuagural WTC cycle in 2019, also hailed the Mumbaikar’s astounding presence in limited-overs cricket.

The 37-year-old has amassed over 14,000 runs across ODIs and T20Is with 36 hundreds, including three double-centuries, and 87 fifties.

“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,” Shastri told about the India opener who retired from T20Is at the end of the World Cup.

‘Rohit explosive, Virat is finesse’

Shastri also said that Rohit’s explosive batting sets him apart from the rest of the modern-day batters, including Virat Kohli who relies on finess and ground-strokes. Rohit leads the charts in terms of international sixes, with 612 sixes in 509 innings. Rohit has also smashed five T20I hundreds, the joint-most alongside Glenn Maxwell.

“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.”

“Compared to Virat Kohli, you know, Virat Kohli is more finesse, he’s 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 concluded.

Rohit will return to action leading India in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, starting in Colombo on Friday.

Get latest updates on T20 World Cup along with live score updates for all matches.

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.