The image of Rohit Sharma‘s teary-eyed expression after India’s ODI Cricket World Cup 2023 final is etched in public memory. Despite a solid show till the semi-final phase of the Cricket World Up at home, the Indian cricket team fell in the final hurdle against the Pat Cummins-led Australia. While there were many star performers for India at the Cricket World Cup like Virat Kohli (765 runs in 11 innings) and Mohammed Shami (24 wickets in 7 matches), Rohit Sharma’s aggressive approach stood out. He scored 597 runs in 11 innings at a strike-rate of 125.94 – the highest among all Indian batters.
Thanks to the aggressive display by Rohit Sharma at the start of the innings, other Indian cricket team batters could take their time to settle in. In the final against Australia, Rohit Sharma scored 47 off 31 balls off Glenn Maxwell, with Travis Head taking a superb catch. Some former player suggested that Rohit Sharma could have played with greater caution.
“That’s the beauty of this team, country above everything else. That’s why the respect…Rohit Sharma today is probably where MS Dhoni stands because everything Rohit did was selfless. It ‘s very east to say that moment…that moment you have lakh and half people cheering, and wanting you to go. He could have stuck on and score the hundreds. But he said, ‘Let me give that team a 80-90 start and they takeoff'”, Suniel Shetty told ANI.
“Whether it was Rohit or Shami or Bumrah or Kuldeep, you can’t ask for a better team.”
Rohit Sharma on Friday was removed as the captain of Mumbai Indians, with Hardik Pandya being named his replacement. Rohit Sharma had been captaining the franchise since 2013 when they lifted first of their five IPL trophies.
The other titles under Rohit’s captaincy came in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. Mumbai Indians had made it to the play-offs in IPL 2023.
Meanwhile, Hardik has big shoes to fill as the new skipper of MI, as Rohit has led the franchise to five IPL title wins.
In 31 matches for GT from 2022-23, Pandya scored 833 runs at an average of 37.86 and a strike rate of over 133. He also had 11 wickets for the team, with the best figures of 3/17.
Hardik also played 92 matches for MI from 2015-2021, scoring 1,476 runs at an average of 27.33 at a strike rate of over 153, with four half-centuries and best score of 91. He also took 42 wickets for the team, with the best bowling figures of 3/20.
Hardik has won five IPL trophies, four with MI (2015, 2017, 2019, 2020) and GT (2022).
With ANI inputs
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