Former India player Gautam Gambhir has backed both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to play in the 2024 T20 World Cup, which will take place in the West Indies and United States from June 4 to 30. He added that Rohit should be picked as captain for the mega event and not just as a batter as well.
In an interaction with Sportskeeda, Gambhir said, “Absolutely, both [Kohli and Rohit] need to be picked, both should be picked. And, more importantly, I want to see Rohit Sharma captain in the T20 World Cup. Yes, Hardik Pandya has captained in T20Is, but I still want to see Rohit Sharma captain in the T20 World Cup.”
Applauding Rohit Sharma as a phenomenal captain, Gautam Gambhir also lauded his performance in the recently concluded ODI World Cup. Kohli and Rohit were the top two highest run-scorers in the mega event. Kohli scored 765 runs in 11 innings which came at an average of 95.62 and a strike rate of 90.32 as well. As for Rohit, he smashed 597 at an average of 54.27 and a strike rate of 125.95 as well.
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He added, “In this World Cup, he has showed that with his batting. If Rohit Sharma is picked, Virat Kohli will automatically get picked. If Rohit Sharma decides to play the T20 World Cup, he should be selected as a captain and not just as a batter.”
The veteran also expressed surprise over the Indian management’s decision to move down Suryakumar Yadav to No. 7 in the 2023 World Cup final against Australia. Gambhir added that if the think tank did not have faith in him as a No. 6 batter, they might have chosen someone else for the spot as well. Notably, India promoted Ravindra Jadeja to No. 6 in the final against Australia ahead of Suryakumar but Jadeja was dismissed for 9 off 22 balls as well.
“Honestly, I did not watch him [Suryakumar] but. However, demoting him to number seven was not the right call. Honestly, I did not understand that,” he further added. “KL Rahul was batting at a particular tempo after Virat got out. So it makes even more sense to send Suryakumar Yadav in and tell him to play aggressive cricket. Play your natural game because Ravindra Jadeja is there to follow you.”
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While a lot of critics were not happy with Suryakumar Yadav’s batting effort in the final, Gambhir said that his mindset was defensive since he only had the tail left after him.
“Imagine the player’s mindset as well. It’s very easy for any expert to say that Suryakumar Yadav struggled. But his mindset was that if he got dismissed, after him, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav were left. If he knew that Jadeja was to follow him, his mindset would have been different. You are playing a pure batter. If you are not confident that he can bat at the No. 6, you might as well have picked someone else,” Gautam Gambhir concluded.
