Rohit Sharma is making an early impact as India’s limited-overs captain. The Mumbai star led India to their first-ever sweep of West Indies in a men’s ODI series as the Asian giants completed a 3-0 whitewash of the ODI series in Ahmedabad.
Rohit Sharma has won 11 ODIs out of the 13 he has captained India and he has ticked all the boxes in his first full-time assignment as the limited-overs captain. Rohit led India to a 96-run victory in the 3rd ODI on Friday at the Narendra Modi Stadium, expertly marshalling his bowling unit. India bowled out West Indies for 169 after posting 265 on the board in the series finale which was a dead rubber as the hosts had sealed a 2-0 unbeatable lead in the 2nd ODI on Wednesday.
All eyes will be on Rohit as India are heading into the T20 World Cup this year and the 50-over World Cup next year but the captain stressed that he is not looking too much into his records and is focused on helping the do better in the coming days.
“Definitely not looking at those numbers (When asked about his captaincy record). We have ticked a lot of boxes in this series. Whatever we wanted to get out of this series, we pretty much got. Noise will be around as long as we ‘re playing. People look up to us, everybody watches us,” Rohit said.
MOO D as the @ImRo45-led #TeamIndia complete the ODI series sweep & lift the trophy. #INDvWI @Paytm
score card https://t.co/9pGAfWtQZV pic.twitter.com/B12RdFxzNx
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 11, 2022
India were in a spot of bother at 42/3 in the 3rd ODI after opting to bat on Friday. However, the much-talked-about middle-order issues seem to be sorting out as India had a 110-run stand for the 4th wicket between Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant.
Even in the 2nd ODI, Suryakumar Yadav put his hand up after Rohit and Virat Kohli failed to help India post a par score of 237.
Rohit said the performances of the middle-order are the biggest takeaway for India from the ODI series.
“That was the biggest takeaway for us – the middle-order batting. Today was again a great game for the middle order. We were 40/3. For me that’s the biggest takeaway,” he said.
CHAHAL AND KULDEEP IMPORTANT TO INDIA: ROHIT
Meanwhile, Rohit also heaped rich praise on Kuldeep Yadav, who returned to the side for the first time in nearly a year. The left-arm wrist-spinner picked up 2 crucial wickets as he got a game in the series finale.
Rohit added that Kuldeep and Yuzvendra Chahal are going to be important members of the team in the lead up to the 2023 World Cup.
While Chahal played the first 2 ODIs, Kuldeep replaced his spin partner but Rohit is confident that India will be able to field them together very soon.
“Both Kuldeep and Chahal are crucial players for us. Especially Kuldeep. Chahal was very much in the plans and Kuldeep went off the radar. It was important to get him back slowly. Important to give them that confidence. We start expecting things early than expected, important to give them some cushion. Pretty sure we’ll see them together soon,” Rohit said.
The two teams will meet in a 3-match T20I series from February 16 in Kolkata after the completion of the Indian Premier League mega auction over the weekend.
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