India captain Rohit Sharma won over fans and critics once again with his exceptional knock of 121 runs in the 3rd T20I against Afghanistan. Rohit’s stunning show with the bat silenced many such voices that were questioning his place in India’s T20I Team. But, it wasn’t just Rohit’s batting that was brilliant in Bengaluru on Wednesday but also his captaincy. Former India cricketer Rohan Gavaskar, speaking of Rohit’s leadership, said the Hitman’s style of leadership is the reason why has a higher win percentage than his predecessors, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni.
“This is the format where your captaincy skills are really tested. If he has a higher winning percentage than MS and Virat, that tells you what a good captain he is. What I really liked about this innings is that, generally you say in a T20I game now – the template is to go bang bang bang from the word go. And that is the template that is set. But both Rohit and Rinku used their cricketing intelligence at 22-4 and said no. We can get runs later on but let’s just give ourselves a little bit of time,” Gavaskar said in a chat on Cricbuzz.
Further delving into Rohit’s mindset when it comes to T20Is, Gavaskar highlighted who the India skipper and Rinku Singh bought themselves time after India had lost 4 wickets for 22. But, that didn’t prevent them from going hammer and tongs in the latter phae of the game, crossing the 200-run mark.
“If we lose a wicket or two here, we’ll be 70 all out. We’re 90 all out. So let’s give ourselves a little bit of time, we have the ability to make up for it as the innings progresses. And they did, last five overs – 100. But this is a one-off. Normally, you want your teams to play in a different template. But to have that cricketing intelligence and the skillset to adapt and adjust and change your game, to what needs to be done, that is key,” Gavaskar asserted.
