Former England pacer Steve Harmison heaped praise on India skipper Rohit Sharma for his captaincy against England in the ODI World Cup match on Sunday. Rohit led the team from the front with a fine 87-run knock on a tricky batting surface, he was the only batter to score a half-century in the clash. The 36-year-old also led his troops well while defending the below-par 230-run target.
He managed his bowlers well despite not having a sixth-bowling option as India bundled out England for just 129 in Lucknow.
The former English pacer pointed out that Rohit stuck with his pacers after taking early wickets as he was planning to bundle out England.
“Rohit Sharma did a brilliant job at leading them. Once they made the initial breakthrough, you could have got the spinners in early. He’s only got five bowlers to go with. So, he’s not thinking 40 to 50 overs. Rohit Sharma was thinking of bowling England out in 35 to 40 overs. So he didn’t go to his spin bowlers and went back to his seam bowlers,” Harmison said on ESPNCricinfo.
Team India put pressure on the defending champions by taking early four wickets as England just failed to recover from it and crumbled under pressure to lose their sixth match in a row.
“You have to give a lot of credit there to the way Rohit Sharma captained the initial part of that game,” he added.
Veteran India batter Cheteshwar Pujara, who was part of the same panel, also heaped praise on Rohit’s leadership as he pointed out backing Mohammed Siraj despite him being not very effective with the new ball this tournament/
“He (Rohit Sharma) has been brilliant,” Pujara said. “Not just in this game, if you look at the way he has led the team in the entire World Cup, especially the way he brings in the seamers. Siraj hasn’t started well in many games, but he is still continuing with him,” he added.
Pujara said that the Indian skipper used his bowlers especially Siraj well in the middle-overs as the pacer also did well by providing important breakthroughs.
“Whenever Rohit has used Siraj in the middle-overs, he has given that breakthrough. He has been very smart with how has led the team in that middle-overs, which not many captains are able to do,” he added.
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