File Pic: Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit Sharma MUMBAI: When Team India stand for the national anthem at the Wankhede Stadium ahead of the T20 World Cup opener against USA on Saturday, they will watch as former captain Rohit Sharma places the coveted trophy – which he lifted on June 29, 2024 in Barbados – on the podium. Rohit is the tournament ambassador for this year’s World Cup.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!While his selfless explosiveness as an opener is likely to be matched by another Sharma, in Abhishek one wonders if Rohit, who has been a part of every T20 World Cup since 2007, will be missed more as a leader. Of course, even under Suryakumar Yadav, India built a stellar record in the shortest format.
Suryakumar Yadav press conference: on India vs Pakistan, World T20I preparations and Washington Sundar injury
However, in the pressure-soaked environment of a home World Cup, Rohit, who has often been a Zen architect with excellent managerial skills, coupled with tactical empathy for his bowlers and clutch composure, will likely be in action on SKY’s fast dial.Former India pacer and bowling coach Paras Mhambrey, who has teamed up brilliantly with head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma in three ICC events (World Cup 2022 T20, World Cup 2023 ODI and World Cup 2024 T20), feels that the current regime’s pragmatic approach is based on the fact that Rohit is not in the squad. “The question of missing him does not arise.However, Mhambrey welcomes captain Rohit’s impact, especially as India ended an 11-year ICC trophy drought in the US and West Indies. He also endorsed Jasprit Bumrah’s views on Rohit as a “captain of bowlers” who allows bowlers to set the pitch and intervene only when their plans are not working out. Paras explains the reasons why he became such a captain of the bowlers despite being such a destructive and classy batsman who preferred impact over milestones. “During the bowlers’ meetings, he was fully involved. When you’re captain and you’re playing in the World Cup, there are so many other things going on. Yet he gave so much of his time to the bowlers and to us as coaches. He was there for the discussions. That gave us great communication on the field because they knew the captain was very clear about the plans. The bowlers really stuck to them as well. And if things didn’t work out, the captain is ready. to read the situation and rely on the option that’s in contrary to the popular one.’That perhaps explains the way he rotated his resources in the two high-stakes encounters at the T20 World Cup 2024. Defending 119 in the league phase against Pakistan in New York, he preferred to contain Bumrah rather than use him up in a desperate search for wickets on a pitch that had begun to loosen. Conversely, in the final, with South Africa needing 30 from 30 balls and Barbados with six wickets remaining, he used Bumrah in the 16th and 18th overs rather than waiting to bowl the 18th and 20th overs.The Paras feel that the bowlers and the team look to a leader for calmness when things are not going well and Rohit has given them that. “Rohit is not very expressive and exudes a calm body language. That takes the pressure off and prevents it from transferring to the bowlers. In that game against Pakistan, even though he wanted the bowlers to defend 120 and look for wickets, he never looked desperate.”Apart from favoring high pace batting in the powerplay, the Rohit-Rahul Dravid era will also probably go down in history as India’s data-driven think tank. Paras agrees with this view, highlighting how Rohit often called Hari Prasad Mohan, the analyst, late at night before matches during the World Cup, saying he needed data on a player.“Another great guy, Hari, who worked very hard behind the scenes. During interviews, he would often say to me and Rahul, ‘Rohit called me late at night and wanted specific dates.’ It just shows how much Rohit was thinking all along,” points out Paras.But the challenge in team environments is often getting people to see your point of view or buy into your plans. One aspect was data, which Rohit invested heavily in. How did he get others to accept the fact that data was important and filter it in a way that didn’t complicate it? “I don’t think anyone told him he didn’t like the data,” reveals Paras, adding that he had a gift for filtering information in a way that bowlers used. “Perhaps individual X wanted to know four points. Someone else only wanted to know two, depending on what phase of the game he was playing and who. He covered both quite well.”While SKY have absorbed most things from Rohit’s captaincy style, Paras feels it would be wrong to compare individuals. “When you put a captain in charge, you have to let him run the way he wants. Not every game is going to go the way you want, but if you’re consistent with your thought processes, it should be fine.”
- 85.71% – Rohit’s success rate in T20 World Cups, best among captains who have led in more than 10 matches.
- 2 – Rohit is one of only two players to have appeared in the first nine editions of the T20 World Cup between 2007 and 2024, the other being Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan. Rohit also has the most T20 World Cup appearances (47), followed by Shakib’s 43 matches.
- 1 – Rohit is the only cricketer to have won the T20 World Cup as both a player (2007) and captain (2024).
- 9 – Series won by India, including the last 8 in a row, out of 10 T20I series played under Suryakumar Yadav since November 2023. The two-match series against South Africa in South Africa in December 2023 ended in a draw.
- 165.48 – Suryakumar’s strike rate is the highest among batsmen with more than 3000 runs in T20Is.
—Stats: Rajesh Kumar
