To his credit, head coach Rahul Dravid, the wall at No.3 during his Test cricket days, too bought into this idea after carefully weighing the pros and cons.
The idea of him ditching self-preservation for the high-risk, high-reward approach at the top of the order for the World Cup was proposed by the Indian captain Rohit Sharma himself during a team meeting after the Asia Cup earlier this year. It is learnt that Rohit wanted to put bowling attacks to the sword as far back as last year’s T20 World Cup in Australia, but it didn’t come off. During the 50-over World Cup at home, on pitches more conducive to hitting on the up, Rohit felt it was a risk worth taking.
Rohit told his teammates and the coaching staff that as captain he would set the tone of the innings and this would allow others to play their natural game. The bold proposal of the skipper came with a rider: If the plan didn’t work out, he would be willing to play more conservatively.
To his credit, head coach Rahul Dravid, the wall at No.3 during his Test cricket days, too bought into this idea after carefully weighing the pros and cons.
Fifth on the run-scorers list with 550, Rohit has an average of 55 and a headline-making strike rate of 124.15 — the fastest among the top 10 run-getters at this World Cup. Numbers only tell half the story of his impact on the morale of new-ball bowlers at this World Cup and his contribution with the bat to the team’s 10-match unbeaten run.
Speaking ahead of the New Zealand game, Rohit thanked coach Dravid for backing him and the players and not chopping and changing once every batsman was given clear roles.
“I don’t have a mantra. As a captain, if you have decided this is how you want to play then you must have clarity. You have to back the players to the hilt. We have backed certain players whom we have given certain roles. We’ll back players and stand with them. We have to give credit to Rahul Dravid for buying into that thought and not shuffle much when it doesn’t come off,” Rohit had said.
