Rohit Sharma is seen celebrating with Hardik Pandya in the IND vs PAK game in New York. (AP)
The former Australian skipper, Ricky Ponting praised the Indian captain for his leadership qualities to help take the win over rivals Pakistan in the T20 World Cup.
The former Australian skipper, Ricky Ponting delivered massive praise to the Indian captain Rohit Sharma for brilliantly leading his side to take them to an immense comeback win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2024 clash that took place in New York on Sunday.
Having only 119 runs on the board after asking India to bat first, it was a pace-attack led by Jasprit Bumrah along with Hardik Pandya who was able to restrict Pakistan to just 113 runs in the 20 overs.
“Rohit Sharma is a very experienced captain, isn’t he? And, I just saw him then and said, ‘mate, your captaincy today was outstanding’,” Ponting said in a video posted by the ICC on Instagram.
Ponting suggested that Rohit managed to use his bowlers perfectly and credited the fact that some of them, namely Bumrah and Pandya have been with Rohit in the Mumbai Indians for the Indian Premier League which aided their cause.
“I don’t think he could have done much more. You think about a lot of the bowlers that he’s got in his team. He’s had those bowlers in the IPL as well, not only for India.
Ponting did not shy away from crediting the bowlers as well as adhering to Rohit’s plans which led to the Indian team getting the win as well.
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“So, he understands them, knows when he can use them. But, it’s one thing for the captain to set a plan, the bowlers are going to go ahead and execute it, and Hardik was outstanding,” he said.
Speaking about the conditions at Nassau County, Ponting has suggested that it favours the pacers which was clearly shown as Bumrah and Pandya helping script a fighting comeback to take the win.
“I thought he (Pandya) did a really good job with the ball as well, and then, you break it down, and this has been a wicket that the seamers have liked,” Ponting said.
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Going back to the conditions in New York, Ponting went into detail and highlighted that in the first innings, the pacers were able to get the ball to hold up but in the next innings, due to the sun beating down on the track, it took away all the moisture that was on offer which meant that Pakistan had to adapt differently.
“You can see Pakistan got the ball to hold up through natural variation, and it was just a little bit tacky. But, when the sun came out, the wicket dried out quite quickly, and then, you have to adapt and adjust on the run. I thought he (Pandya) did that really well,” he concluded.
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