Mumbai: Ace India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin heaped Rohit Sharma’s captaincy, saying there’s a human element in it beyond all the things that the newly-appointed Test captain brings to the game. Sharma led India to an innings and a whopping 222-run victory in his first-ever Test skipper last week as India hammered Sri Lanka in Mohali.
“Rohit, we all know, how tactically strong he is and how good he is. But I saw a lot of human elements in the way he led the side. He was looking out for anyone in the team, how everyone would feel, how everyone’s confidence is important for the engine room to function,” Ashwin said.
Ashwin also revealed that Rohit, who became the 35th Indian Test captain, after taking over from Virat Kohli, wanted Jadeja to complete his double hundred before declaring the innings. Jadeja was the star of the series from the Indian side, as he made his career’s highest Test score of 175* and picked a fifer in Sri Lanka’s first innings. Jadeja missed out a few runs on his maiden double hundred but the India star became only the 6th cricketer to hit a hundred and pick up a 5-wicket haul in the same Test.
“Even beyond all these tactical things, he kept the game simple. When he wanted to declare, he wanted Jadeja to get a double hundred. Eventually, it was Jaddu who said it’s not important and you should go for a declaration. So, all those things, I am sure Rohit is very, very experienced. I thought he did a phenomenal job,” Ashwin added.
“The way he wanted to look after Jayant the third spinner was under-bowled but he wanted to look after him, wanted to rotate the bowlers. How he kept the fast bowlers from one end all through the match.” Ashwin concluded.
