The former India international Aakash Chopra seemed to be very impressed with the captaincy of Rohit Sharma in the 3-match T20 International series against New Zealand, which finished yesterday in Kolkata.
It was Rohit’s first series as the permanent T20I captain of India and he delivered the result straight away, whitewashing a T20 World Cup finalist New Zealand team, leading from the front and making some excellent decisions on and off the field.
It was not just the 3-0 win which was the reason of the amusement of the Indian fans, but also the fact that a few youngsters got to play and they didn’t just play, they also got the opportunity to showcase what they had to offer at crucial junctures of the game.
The likes of Venkatesh Iyer was thrown up the order in the second T20I to finish the game and was then used with the ball as well in dewy conditions in the third game. Harshal Patel was also entrusted with the job of death bowling straightaway on his debut and was backed to do the job by the captain under high pressure.
KL Rahul was rested for the third game and Ishan Kishan opened the batting, while Axar Patel played all three games after consistent IPL success.
Aakash Chopra liked the on-field decisions of Rohit Sharma in the third T20I
Apart from the changes that were made, what pleased Aakash Chopra was the way Rohit Sharma marshalled his troops and understood which bowler had to be introduced into the attack at what point.
Chasing the target of 180 odd in the third game, the New Zealand openers seemed to be going well against the fast bowlers first up, but Rohit introduced Axar into the attack in the third over and he came up with a double-wicket over straight away to put India firmly on the driving seat.
Aakash Chopra, at the end of the game yesterday, posted a tweet praising Rohit’s captaincy and said that there aren’t too many cricketers around the world at the moment who, while leading a side, understand the “pulse of the game” better than Rohit.
Very few captains understand the pulse of the game better than Rohit. 👏👏 #IndvNZ
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) November 21, 2021
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