Rohit Sharma does not need to be taught to score hundreds – Ravichandran Ashwin backs Team India skipper’s approach

India’s veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin hailed Rohit Sharma’s aggressive approach. Rohit scored three fifties and one century in the ODI World Cup and also gave blistering start on numerous occasions.

Rohit scored 597 runs in 11 matches of the World Cup 2023 at an average of 54.27 and a blistering strike rate of 125.95. The right-hander made the most of his experience and batted at the top of his game throughout the tournament. The veteran gave quick starts to the team along with Shubman Gill and deserves a lot of credit for the team’s success in the World Cup.

Rohit took the bull by its horns and led from the front throughout the competition.

Rohit scored a quickfire 31-ball 47 in the summit clash against Australia whereas Shreyas Iyer was dismissed for only four. Ashwin reckons Iyer’s wicket fell at the wrong time in the final. Iyer scored 530 runs in 11 matches of the World Cup at an average of 66.25 and a strike rate of 113.25.

Ashwin said on his YouTube channel: “Rohit Sharma does not need to be taught to score hundreds. It is the intent which counts. Shreyas Iyer’s wicket fell at a very important time in the final.”

Ashwin continued: “Spinners were clobbered by Iyer and it was a setback that we could not get that in the final. He took an oath to master the pull shot and faced countless balls and worked on it. He got out a couple of times to it, but look at the number of short balls he hit for boundaries.”

Ashwin added that the World Cup loss was a difficult pill to swallow as India had dominated right throughout the tournament.

“It took me a day or two to reflect on how our campaign went. Before the final, I was pretty confident that we would emerge as winners. But once the match ended, the emotion was a little flat. It starts hurting the players after waking up from a night’s sleep.”

Ashwin gave credit to captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid for backing the team to play aggressively.

“This World Cup had us playing an exciting brand of cricket and we played outstandingly well and one of the primary reasons for that is the effort that Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid put in and their schematic thinking and everything was thought out tactically down the wire.”

India will take on Australia on Thursday in the first T20I at Vizag.