‘Like Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni’: Sunil Gavaskar lauds ‘people’s captain’ Rohit Sharma

Legendary Sunil Gavaskar compared Rohit Sharma’s captaincy with Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni. Dev led India to a historic 1983 World Cup victory whereas Dhoni took India to glory in the 2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 ODI World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy.

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma led India to triumph in the recently concluded T20 World Cup as the team broke their 11-year trophy drought. The Little Master hailed Rohit for playing an instrumental role as a leader in India’s World Cup win.

Rohit Sharma scored 257 runs in eight matches of the T20 World Cup 2024 at an average of 36.71 and a strike rate of 156.71. Furthermore, Rohit Sharma finished his T20I career as the leading run-getter in the format, with 4231 runs in 159 matches.

“Rohit Sharma joins those other two cricketing giants, Kapil Dev and Dhoni in captaining India to a World Cup trophy. Like the duo were, Rohit is also a people’s captain. Well-liked, not only by his team members, but by the entire Indian cricketing community. The cricket fans also love his laconic style of leadership and tactically, he is as good as the sharpest in the game,” wrote Gavaskar on his column for mid-day.

Gavaskar hailed Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid for getting the best out of the players and backing them to get the desired results.

“While the players naturally took all the limelight as they should, there was the support staff led by the one and only Rahul Dravid who also had a massive role to play in the victory. What a terrific combo the two Rs made. Totally team-oriented, completely selfless, and prepared to do anything and everything for Team India,” he added.

Rohit was able to prove his mettle not only as a leader but also as a batter. The Indian captain retired from the T20I format on a high however he would want to continue the good show in the other two versions of the game.