Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar recently lauded Rohit Sharma for his leadership capabilities after the hosts thrashed West Indies by six wickets in the 1st ODI in Ahmedabad. The men in blues produced a complete effort with both bat and ball to go 1-0 up in the series.
Bowling first, India rode on a four-wicket haul from Yuzvendra Chahal and a three-wicket haul from Washington Sundar to restrict West Indies to 176 runs before chasing it down within 28 overs. Rohit Sharma set the tone with a half-century before debutant Deepak Hooda and Suryakumar Yadav added 68 runs to take India home.
Speaking to Star Sports after the match, Gavaskar remarked that Rohit Sharma contributed to the win in every possible way, starting with winning the toss, taking good on-field decisions, and then scoring a half-century.
“This is the kind of perfect start he wanted. Even before that he tossed the coin in such a way that Pollard called it wrong. So you got to remember that right from the beginning he got it right. Therefore with a win like this it is always a good start and he contributed to the win in terms of scoring with what is your specialty, that is batting,” Sunil Gavaskar said.
“You have done that and of course been able to make the bowling changes, the field placing. You get just about everything right. So I think if you ask me on a scale of 10, I will give him 9.99,” he added.
Meanwhile, this was Rohit Sharma’s first ODI as India’s first assignment as full-time ODI captain. He was absolutely spot on with his decisions from bowling changes to field placements.
“I don’t believe in perfect game” – Rohit Sharma
💯-plus ODI wickets 👏
Working on his bowling 👌
Tips for the road ahead ☺️Captain @ImRo45 turns anchor & interviews @yuzi_chahal after #TeamIndia win the first @Paytm #INDvWI ODI in Ahmedabad. 😎 😎 – By @Moulinparikh
Watch the full interview 🎥https://t.co/tWZL5GFalz pic.twitter.com/Oz22p7hvOz
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 7, 2022
After a convincing win in Ahmedabad, Rohit Sharma talked about how they ticked all the boxes but still need to continue “getting better as a team”.
“I don’t believe in perfect game. You cannot be perfect. We want to keep getting better. All in all a great effort from everyone. We ticked all boxes. Pretty happy with that. With that bat we could’ve finished with not so many wickets, that is one. Could also have created pressure on their lower order,” the 34-year-old said.
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