Even though he may not have scored high in every World Cup match, Rohit Sharma’s influence at the top of the order has been a key factor in India’s victory. After Rohit won the toss and chose to bat in the semi-final at Wankhede Stadium, Trent Boult and Tim Southee posed the greatest threat to the Indian top-order. However, Rohit made sure that, four years later, India’s bad memories of losing their top order for five runs on the board in the 2019 World Cup semi-final would not resurface.
fearless and inspiring captain Sharma
In the first over of the semi-final, Rohit hit Boult for two boundaries, but the real message was delivered in the next over by the left-armer. The best fast bowler in New Zealand was pursued by Rohit, who hit him for a six over covers. Before dying trying to hit another six, he hit three more. But he had given India an advantage by the time he was out 47.
Rohit has consistently demonstrated this throughout the competition. He no longer gives a damn about how many runs he scores. Rather, he has set a straightforward goal for himself: go out and maximize the powerplay as much as you can.
And thus far, he has had success. Because of Rohit Sharma’s extreme aggression, which has seen India mount an all-out assault on the opposition from the outset, the team has amassed four of its best-five powerplay scores in the history of the ODI World Cup. Rohit leads the top 10 run scorers in the World Cup 2023 with a strike rate of 124.
former Pakistan speedster praises Rohit for his impact
Former Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar praised Rohit for his impact, saying that the captain of India could have easily scored five or six hundreds in this World Cup if he had wanted to, but he never let up. In this tournament, Rohit’s lone century came against Afghanistan.
He went on to state that Rohit too can score 50 ODI centuries like Virat Kohli. “He too could have scored 50 ODI centuries, he can still do it. It’s no big deal for him. Rohit as a batsman and as a captain has been superb. He saps the wind out of the opposition at the very beginning.”
India scored 397/4 thanks to centuries from Shreyas Iyer (105), and Kohli (117). Then, as India won the match by 70 runs to go to the final, Mohammed Shami broke several records with his career-best figures of 7/57 to bowl New Zealand out for 327.
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