Batting great Sunil Gavaskar said he is impressed with the early impression of Rohit Sharma as a Test captain, saying the new skipper got his field placements and bowling changes right in their innings and 222-run victory over Sri Lanka in the first of a 2-Test series in Mohali.
India put on a clinical performance against Sri Lanka, hammering the hosts inside 3 days. After posting 574/8 declared in their first innings, India dismissed Sri Lanka for 174 and 178 in a span of 4 sessions to go 1-0 up in the Test series. Rohit made some bold calls, including that of holding back Jasprit Bumrah in the 2nd innings and backing Jayant Yadav even as Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin were running through the Sri Lankan attack.
“Excellent debut (as captain). When you win inside three days, it tells you your team has been superior. More importantly, when India were fielding, the bowling changes were very impressive. The catches were going to exactly where the fielders were. The fielders did not move much. What does it tell you? Spot on-field placing,” Sunil Gavaskar told Star Sports.
“Even the bowling changes, you could possibly argue that the Ravindra Jadeja in the first innings was brought on a little later but at the end of the day, the team has won with 2 days to spare.
“I would give him 9.5 out of 10.”
