Legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar opens up on Rohit Sharma MS Dhoni captaincy
Legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar opens up on Rohit Sharma MS Dhoni captaincy
Sunil Gavaskar is known for his free frank fearless comments on fellow cricketers.
Ahead of the GT vs MI IPL 2023 Eliminator, Sunil Gavaskar hsve MS Dhoni’s example stating that Rohit Sharma’s captaincy doesn’t get enough credit.
Rohit Sharma very well knew what Akash Madhwal will bring to the table following the departure of pace-ace Jofra Archer. Madhval successfully replacing the injured England pacer in MI’s star-studded lineup, Madhwal propelled the five-time winners to Qualifier 2 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Wednesday. Repaying Rohit’s faith in the IPL 2023 playoffs, the right-arm pacer recorded magical figures of 5/5 to script Mumbai’s stunning win over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the Eliminator at the Chepauk.
However, Gavaskar has a feeling that Rohit is still an underrated captain. Rohit, who is the most successful IPL Captain is capable of setting a
piquant clash with arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by leading MI to a win over Gujarat Titans (GT) in Qualifier 2 on Friday.
Needless to mention that Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni are two of the greatest captains in the history of the cash-rich IPL league having won nine IPL trophies as captains.
Deemed as an all-time great in Indian cricket, Dhoni is recognised for his tactical nous. The former India skipper is often dubbed as the nation’s greatest captain in cricket. Giving a special mention to ‘Thala’ Dhoni, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar made an interesting statement on Rohit Sharma’s captaincy ahead of the GT vs MI clash. Speaking to the media personnel following MI’s win over LSG, Gavaskar admitted that Rohit is still an underrated captain.
He meant it. Ofcourse, he is underrated. The man has won five titles for Mumbai Indians. He gave an example. Maddhwal got Ayush Badoni, bowling over the wicket. He then went round the wicket to the left-hander Nicholas Pooran. Not a lot of bowlers necessarily do that because if they get their rhythm going bowling over the wicket, they will stick to over the wicket even it’s a left-hander. They will try to the ball away from the left-hander. But he went around the wicket and produced an absolute gem of a delivery and got the man out.
Gavaskar added had it been CSK and Dhoni was the captain, everyone would have said ‘Dhoni plotted Nicholas Pooran’s dismissal. This is what happens to a great extent. There is also a little bit of hype, things sometimes work out.
Gavaskar is of the firm belief that Rohit should be given credit for assisting Madhwal, who equalled Anil Kumble’s staggering feat to demolish Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator at Chepauk. Without mincing words he went on to say that Rohit Sharma never got the credit for telling Madhwal to bowl around the wicket.
The former India captain also highlighted Rohit’s decision to use Nehal Wadhera as an Impact Player in the first innings itself when MI could have easily gone for an extra bowler when they defending.
In conclusion Gavaskar pointed out that the captaincy situation as well. Nehal Wadhera was used as an impact player batting first and teams generally don’t use batters as Impact Player when they are batting first. But Rohit used Nehwal when MI were batting first against LSG. So he needs to be credited for that as well. .
Rohit led MI meets Hardik Pandya led Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Friday.
News input KV Raman
