Rohit Sharma on captaincy: “Whenever the opportunity comes, I’ll be ready”

Rohit Sharma on captaincy: Stand-in Indian captain spoke about captaincy, India’s overall performance and MS Dhoni.

So far, Rohit Sharma and captaincy seem to have developed a thoughtful and supportive relation between each other. In both the international cricket and the IPL (Indian Premier League), Sharma has never failed to lose a final as a captain, something which speaks highly of him as a leader.

In a press conference after leading India to an international title after half a decade, Sharma was asked if he is ready for this job in the future. “Definitely. We’ve just won so I will surely be ready. Whenever the opportunity comes, I’ll be ready”, Sharma answered.

Apart from a couple of nervous chases towards the business end of the tournament, India had been dominating in their Asia Cup journey. Sharma was wax lyrical about the overall performance of his team. “It’s a young team that we brought here. Not many boys had the experience of playing in this condition. It was hot. It wasn’t easy for some of the boys to adapt because they’d come from England, and it is very important to get used to the conditions.

“I think overall, our preparation for this tournament was good. Seven-eight guys came here early, while the England boys got here a day before the tournament. The message was focus on the fitness because we haven’t played in conditions like this before. I think this was a big challenge for us”, Sharma was quoted.

In which was an exceptional display of bowling by the Indian spinners, they picked up a combined tally of 29 wickets in the tournament, bailing out India on several occasions. On the performance of his bowlers, Sharma answered, “The conditions that we played in was quite slow and there was help for the slow bowlers, so I think our spinners bowled well throughout the tournament. Not just one or two games, they’ve consistently bowled well.

“Even today if you see, Bangladesh started in the first 10-15 overs, after that our spinners brought us back in the game. Our spinners’ performance in the last six-eight months has been consistent. It’s been a positive sign. Even for the fast bowlers, in these conditions, it was difficult because there was no help from the wicket. I think they understood the conditions really well and bowled accordingly.”

The Indian batsmen, chiefly the openers, made most of the conditions. India’s opening duo in Dhawan and Rayudu scored 659 runs among them in the tournament. Sharma admitted to the fact that the middle-order will need more matched to settle. “As far as batting goes, middle order didn’t get as many chances as we wanted them to, because the top-order batsman batted quite a lot in the tournament.

“But whenever they’ve got chances, they’ve shown signs of handling pressure well. It’s a different issue that they didn’t finish it off, but I think they handled the pressure well. So if we see overall, I think our performance was dominant in the bowling and batting department”, said the 31-year old stand-in captain.

Sharma agreed to the fact that India’s fielding has improved in the recent years, but said that there was still some room for improvement. “Fielding is one aspect, we can improve a bit because the catches that get dropped shouldn’t be dropped.

“One or two catches, I can understand, our fielding has been good in five-six games continuously. After every game, I would see the fielding stats. We had saved 15-20 runs consistently in each game. I think in such low-scoring games, it plays a very important role. Overall, pretty happy as a captain and a player too”, Sharma added.

Sharma was also asked about him learning as a captain from former captain in Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Sharma said that he believes that both of their captaincy style is almost the same. “We always keep learning from Dhoni bhai because he was an amazing captain. I’ve seen him captaining for so many years.

“He doesn’t panic and thinks before taking a decision. I also try to first think and then react. Yes, 50-over cricket gives you time but still you need to take time as well. We have played under him for so many years, he always advises us, whatever be the situation”, Sharma further added.

Below are some of the tweets on Sharma’s captaincy after India’s tense victory against Bangladesh last night: