In an exclusive interview with Star Sports’ “Follow the Blues,” Nasser Hussain, former English cricket captain, shared his insights on the remarkable performance of the Indian cricket team at the ICC ODI World Cup 2023. He heaped praise on Rohit Sharma’s captaincy, his formidable batting, and Virat Kohli’s century in India’s thrilling victory over Bangladesh.
Hussain began by acknowledging Rohit Sharma’s prowess in World Cup competitions, highlighting his status as one of the finest white-ball batsmen in the history of the game. He noted that Rohit’s record in World Cups is outstanding and particularly emphasized his remarkable ability when facing Bangladesh.
The former English skipper pointed out, “I have thought for a long time, he’s one of the best white ball batters there has ever been. His record against Bangladesh is magnificent, his pull shot, at one stage we showed a graphic – he was averaging 400 in the pull shot in the last couple of years. The most important thing I like is intent, there is real intent, for a while they played a bit of timid Cricket in the T20 World Cup in Australia. This looks like a different top three, the way Rohit, Shubman and Virat are playing are going to put a lot of top order bowlers under pressure.”
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Nasser Hussain continued his praise, this time directed at Rohit Sharma’s captaincy during the World Cup. He noted that Rohit demonstrated excellent strategic thinking, especially when faced with challenges like losing key bowlers. In particular, he highlighted how Rohit handled the rotation of bowlers in crucial moments of the game.
Hussain commended Rohit for his proactive approach, he said, “Just the way when you lose a bowler, the way you have to think about bowlers are key moments in the games. Kuldeep was bowling really well, and he realized the way Siraj had come back with those cross seam deliveries and then he went to Siraj, he got the wicket, and then he went back to Kuldeep, Jadeja and Bumrah. He just rotated his bowlers, and as Dinesh Karthik said on commentary, it wasn’t just the rotation, he was always rotating, looking to get a wicket.”
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On the topic of Virat Kohli’s century, Nasser Hussain highlighted, “Kohli always plays the situation and that’s why he is brilliant in run chases. He sees the situation out there in front of him, he won’t be much off the strike rate anyway because he never takes up deliveries or chews up deliveries. On a pitch like this if you wanted to go into another gear, if he was chasing 350, Kohli would’ve gone into another gear, but he was just making sure India got over the line as he often does.”
Hussain’s praise for Sharma and Kohli is well-deserved. Sharma has been in excellent form in this World Cup, scoring two centuries and leading India to four wins in five matches. Kohli’s century was his first in over a year, and it came at a crucial time for India.
