Mumbai: Former India opener Gautam Gambhir lauded the newly appointed skipper Rohit Sharma, saying the India captain did not way down by the pressure of being the full-time captain and batted with a lot of freedom in the T20I series against New Zealand.
Rohit took over as T20I captain from Virat Kohli who stepped down from the role after India’s early T20 World Cup exit. While Gambhir said the 3-0 sweep of New Zealand can’t be seen as India’s bounce back from the World Cup disappointment, he heaped praise on Rohit’s captaincy. Rohit scored 159 runs in three matches, including two fifties and a score of 48. His strike rate was also above 150, showing that his captaincy debut is making him even more aggressive batsman than before.
“He has done it (scoring big) year after year. It’s good that it’s coming while he is the full-time captain. Performing the way he did is a huge positive. Because sometimes captaincy can take the freedom out of your game but it didn’t happen with Rohit,” Gambhir told Star Sports.
The former opener also reckoned that Rohit showcased a lot of maturity in the way he batted at the top of the order in India’s 3-0 sweep of the Black Caps.
“Yes, he has captained previously as well but wasn’t the full-time captain. This series showed his maturity and what he has done in this series is no surprise. But what was impressive is the way he played with a lot of freedom despite being announced as full-time captain,” he added.
Gambhir also highlighted certain moves from Rohit that thoroughly impressed him. His moves to bring spinners early, while defending a good total in the 3rd T20I against New Zealand in Kolkata shows his maturity as a leader.
“Very, very good captaincy from Rohit Sharma. Bringing on Axar Patel in the 3rd over and getting Yuzvendra Chahal in the 4th over. These are small, small things, sometimes, you might just miss. But this is what captaincy is all about, always staying ahead of the game and he got the results. He is someone who won 5 titles in the IPL and now he has started off this series with a clean sweep. So this is what captaincy does in T20I cricket,” Gambhir added.
Rohit will not be part of the upcoming 2-match Test series against New Zealand as the skipper has been rested after a busy season of T20I cricket.
