Come the World Cup, he will up the ante – Ravi Shastri backs Rohit Sharma as skipper

Former Indian skipper Ravi Shastri has put his weight behind Rohit Sharma to deliver the goods as a leader in the upcoming World Cup. Rohit had taken over as India’s skipper in all three formats after Virat Kohli relinquished his leadership duties.

Rohit took India to the semifinals of the T20 World Cup 2022 but the team lost to eventual champions England. Furthermore, India lost the World Test Championship final against Australia under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma.

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma was at his absolute best in the 2019 World Cup, top-scoring in the tournament with 648 runs in nine matches at an average of 81. There is no doubt that Rohit is going to hold the key at the top of the order along with Shubman Gill and he will look to lead from the front.

Furthermore, Rohit Sharma is the joint-most successful captain in the IPL, along with MS Dhoni, with five titles under his belt.

“I think he is a seasoned captain. Come the World Cup, he will up the ante. Bilaterals are one thing. When it comes to big tournaments, you switch on in a different manner. He knows the nucleus of the players. It is about him ensuring that everyone in that batting lineup knows that they don’t own batting positions,” said Shastri on Star Sports.

Shastri added the team should be flexible with their batting order and bat according to the match situation and opposition.

“You’ve got to be flexible with your batting ladder. No matter who the name of the player is. You do not own positions. You got to have flexibility. That is paramount, and use the right guys against the right oppositions,” Shastri added.

“The think tank would have thought about a group of 18 or 20 players at least four or five months before the World Cup and then given opportunities to each one of them, kept an eye on the injuries too, you know, whichever players who were part of the mix who got injuries and just come back, and then pick the right guys,” said Shastri on India’s thought process ahead of the ODI showpiece.

India will begin their World Cup campaign against Australia in Chennai on 8th October.