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File photo of Rohit Sharma.© BCCI
Led by Rohit Sharma, the Indian cricket team sealed the five-match Test series against England in Ranchi. The hosts won the game by five wickets to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series with a match to go. India lost the first game to England before making a brilliant comeback and winning hat-trick of matches. While many youngsters like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan have so far starred in the series, former Australia captain Ian Chappel made sure that the leadership skills of Rohit is also among the most talked topics. Chappel feels that Rohit’s ability as a leader is “often overlooked”.
“In the sudden shuffling of the Indian side after a prolonged period of selection stability, the leadership of Rohit Sharma is often overlooked. Rohit, in his quiet but efficient way, is a very different leader from the aggressive and highly visible Ben Stokes. His capable handling of the many changes to personnel and the tough loss of the first Test shows his resilience. He also produced a masterful century when the Indian team needed it, at the start of the third Test, to confirm he wasn’t a ceremonial captain,” wrote Chappell on ESPNcricinfo.
“Rohit has a pedigree of leadership success and his reputation helped him guide a fluid Indian line-up in the right direction,:
While admitting that the Indian cricket team has plethora of talent, Chappell said that it still needs the “guidance” of Rohit to keep the belief intact.
“Any failure in his leadership could easily have led this Indian team to faltering when the going got tough. There is no doubt the elite skill of (Jasprit) Bumrah and the talent of (Yashasvi) Jaiswal and the other inexperienced players India introduced to the team is helpful. However, it required the leadership guidance and the tactical nous of Rohit to ensure that a changing team retained belief in their cricket,” he said.
“His clever use of Kuldeep (Yadav) during the third Test in the absence of (Ravichandran) Ashwin was a masterstroke in turning a potential disaster to the team’s advantage. Rohit’s ability to remain unyielding and calculating after a depressing loss in the first Test has helped his side bounce back against a competitive English team,” the former Australia captain added.
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