IND vs SA: “He Is A Team-First Type Of Captain” - Daren Sammy Hails Team India Skipper Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma took over from Virat Kohli as India’s captain after the T20 World Cup 2021 in white-ball cricket and since then, India has not lost a T20I series in his captaincy thus far. This led to two-time T20 World Cup winning captain Daren Sammy hailing him as a “team-first” type of captain.

Rohit will be at the helm in Australia as India look to win their first T20 World Cup since the inaugural edition in 2007. India has won more than 30 matches this year in 2020, a world record, and also more than 10 bilateral series as well in his captaincy, including against West Indies, New Zealand, Si Lanka, England, Australia, and now South Africa.

Hailing the star batter for his leadership skills, Sammy told journalist Vimal Kumar in an interview on the latter’s YouTube channel:

“I love the way he captains. That’s why Mumbai Indians have been one of the most successful IPL franchises. He is not a ‘him-first’ but a ‘team-first’ type of captain. When you have a leader that could motivate men, it doesn’t matter who does the job for the team, the team comes first. And Rohit Sharma comes across like that to me.”

Under him, India recently registered a series win over Australia and have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead against South Africa, which is their first win in T20I series against Proteas at home.

Would Be Interesting To See India’s Aggressive Approach In Australia: Daren Sammy

India have made a conscious effort to be a lot more aggressive, especially with the bat after their dismal outing in the T20 World Cup 2021 in UAE. Captain Rohit Sharma himself has taken the lead and went after the bowling right from the first ball.

There have been mixed reactions to Team India’s modified approach. Sammy, however, backed Rohit and Co. He explained:

“You have an app on your phone and you have to keep updating it. When they won, that (old) method was okay. But when you have teams that are capable of hitting boundaries, their chances of them scoring quicker than you will always be there. If you consolidate too much, you set yourself back. And if the people consolidating get out, then you have two new batters coming in.

If you go hard and try to put the bowlers under pressure early, even if you lose wickets, you are so high in the run-rate, you can still consolidate. That’s what I see has changed with Rohit Sharma and India now. They have the personnel to actually do it. It would be interesting to see how it goes at this year’s World Cup in Australia.”

India will begin their T20 World Cup 2022 campaign against Pakistan in October 23 in MCG.

Also Read: ICC T20 World Cup 2022: Not Much To Worry About, Australians Won Title Despite Struggles Before Mega Event – David Miller