Following his stunning return in T20Is during Afghanistan's tour of India, seasoned opener Rohit Sharma has been named the captain of the Indian team for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024. Batting maestro Rohit took over the leadership from Virat Kohli after India's underwhelming performance in a previous T20 World Cup. Under Rohit's captaincy and with Rahul Dravid as coach, the team reached the semi-finals of the event held in Australia.
Post their semi-final departure from the T20 World Cup, captain Rohit led the Indian team to the finals of two ICC tournaments against Australia. The team faced off against Pat Cummins and his team in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final at the Oval. Then, four months later, Rohit's India met Australia again, this time under Cummins' captaincy, in the final of the ICC 50-over World Cup at the Narendra Modi Stadium. With Rohit confirmed as captain for the 2024 World Cup, the Indian cricket leadership believes in his capability to bring an end to the team's ICC trophy drought.
As the captain of Team India in the current ICC tournament, Rohit Sharma has steered the team to a series victory against England. Ahead of the fifth Test against England, ex-India fast bowler Praveen Kumar shared insights into how Rohit has earned the trust and admiration of his team members. In an interview with The Times of India, the former pacer described Rohit as 'yaaro ka yaar' (a friend among friends).
Praveen Kumar on Rohit Sharma's
“Rohit is a fantastic skipper. He is leading the side really well. Sourav Ganguly was the one who built the team. He created the team with a mix of youngsters and experienced players. Rohit is 'yaaro ka yaar' (friend of friends). He scolds the players when they make mistakes and hugs them too. He guides them and gives them all liberty on the field,” Praveen was quoted as saying.
Before leading the Indian side at the grandest stage of them all, Rohit will take up the role of a pure batter at the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Rohit was replaced by all-rounder Hardik Pandya as MI skipper for the new season. Rohit masterminded MI's all five IPL title triumphs in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020.
Praveen has his say on Mumbai Indians' captaincy transition
“Rohit knows his role really well. He knows he has to go in the middle and score runs. I don't think it (losing MI captaincy) would affect Rohit in any way because he knows his role well. It won't matter to Rohit whether he is a captain or not. He is a mature and experienced cricketer. I am sure Mumbai Indians management must have spoken to Rohit before taking this decision (giving captaincy to Hardik). Without any conversation and talk with Rohit, MI can't take this big decision,” Praveen concluded.
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