Rohit Sharma is a mix of Ganguly and Dhoni in captaincy, opines Irfan Pathan
Rohit Sharma is the talk of the town after he helped Mumbai Indians lift their fifth title and praising his captaincy, Irfan Pathan called him a mix of Ganguly and Dhoni. Rohit Sharma's captaincy has got a lot of positive reviews and many experts want him to take over captaincy from Virat Kohli.
As much noise as Virat Kohli's tactics and selections make for the wrong reasons, for Rohit Sharma, it is always good reviews - be it the way he uses match-ups, backs his players, follows the instructions from team's backroom staff sans ego or his on-field tactics, which are exemplary. That Rohit Sharma has been the most successful IPL skipper of all time, even eclipsing MS Dhoni, and India have not won even a single T20 World since the inaugural edition in 2007, cricket experts have been demanding Rohit to lead India in white-ball cricket, at least if not more in place of Kohli.
Indian cricketer-turned-commentator, Irfan Pathan is also very impressed with Sharma's majestic captaincy. There was an exceptional move made by him in the final against Delhi where he not only opted for Jayant Yadav over Rahul Chahar but also unleashed him upfront against an in-form Shikhar Dhawan, which got him the prized scalp of DC's most dangerous batsman. Pathan said that Rohit uses his instinct well, else anyone would have gone with a seamer than Jayant against Dhawan.
âThe way he used Yadav showed his class. Any captain would have gone with a seamer. Rohit used his instinct. It showed how clear was his thinking. It showed that heâs a bowlersâ captain,â said Irfan Pathan, reported TimesNow.
The former Indian all-rounder further added that Rohit is a mix of Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni when it comes to captaincy as he both trusts his players and also his instincts.Â
âHe is a mixture of Dhoni and Ganguly. Ganguly trusted his bowlers and went by it. Dhoni trusted his bowlers but always took decisions with an instinct," he said.
The southpaw whose promising international career was marred by injuries, also noted that there was a game where he had used Bumrah effectively to tilt the game in favour of Mumbai Indians besides giving an example of how well the seasoned campaigner used Pollard the bowler.
"One of the games was getting close, so he used Bumrah in the 17th over, though he usually uses Bumrah in the 18th. Bumrah brought the game back in MIâs favour.
âLook at the way he used Pollard, he didnât make him bowl initially but when wicket had double pace he used Pollard,â Pathan asserted.
Rohit Sharma has been an absolute IPL legend winning six titles as a player and five as captain of the Mumbai Indians, which have come in last eight years since he overtook the responsibility from Ricky Ponting.Â