Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has said that Rohit Sharma is the ideal captain to lead the Indian team as they look to clinch the 2023 ODI World Cup at home. Comparing the personalities of Rohit and Virat Kohli, the legend said that the latter would have found it slightly harder to cope with the pressure of the big occasion as well. However, India got off to a terrific start in the ODI World Cup, winning three out of three games so far.
Speaking to the ICC website, Ponting said, “He’s very laid back, Rohit. Very laid back with everything he does. You can even see that by the way that he plays. He’s a pretty laconic sort of batsman as well, and that’s the way he is both on and off the field. We can’t sit back and say that the pressure won’t get to them at some stage, or it won’t affect them, because it will, just with the enormity of the tournament. But he’ll take it and cope with it as well as probably anyone.”
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Ponting further added that Rohit is the right person to lead India in the World Cup as Kohli can focus solely on his batting then.
He explained: “Someone like Virat, who is a bit more heart-on-the-sleeve, and probably listens to the fans and plays up with the fans a little bit more, someone with his personality would probably find it a bit harder. But I think Rohit will be fine with it. He’s a terrific bloke and has been a great player for a long time, and he’s done a great job as leader of India.”
However, both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been impressive with the bat in the 2023 ODI World Cup so far. While the Indian captain has scored a century and a fifty, Kohli has contributed two crucial half-centuries so far.
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“I said from the start that I think they’re going to be the team to beat. They’ve got a very talented team. They’ve got all bases covered with their fast bowling, their spin and their top-order, middle-order batting. They’re going to be extremely hard to beat. But we’ll see how they hold up under extreme pressure as well,” Ricky Ponting concluded.
