Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has lavishes praise on Rohit’s Sharma’s captaincy and called hosts India the ‘team to beat’ in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023.
India, who are chasing the World Cup 2023 trophy on home soil, have made a bright start to their campaign with thumping victories against Australia, Afghanistan and arch-rivals Pakistan.
The three wins have propelled India to the top of the standings and two-time World Cup winning Australian captain feels Rohit Sharma has been the key for the hosts.
“He’s very laid back, Rohit. Very laid back with everything he does. You can even see that by the way that he plays. He’s a pretty laconic sort of batsman as well, and that’s the way he is both on and off the field,” Ponting told ICC.
“We can’t sit back and say that the pressure won’t get to them at some stage, or it won’t affect them, because it will, just with the enormity of the tournament. But he’ll take it and cope with it as well as probably anyone,” he added.
The 36-year-old Rohit has captained India in ODIs since taking the reins from Virat Kohli in both white-ball formats since December 2021. Ponting believes that Rohit is the ideal leader as India play the showpiece event on home soil, while allowing Kohli to focus on his starring role with the bat.
“Someone like Virat, who is a bit more heart-on-the-sleeve, and probably listens to the fans and plays up with the fans a little bit more, someone with his personality would probably find it a bit harder,” he said.
“But I think Rohit will be fine with it. He’s a terrific bloke and has been a great player for a long time, and he’s done a great job as leader of India,” he added.
India last won the Cricket World Cup when the tournament was held across three countries including their own in 2011. The MS Dhoni led side then defeated Sri Lanka in the final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Since then, India are still searching for a third Cricket World Cup title.
“I said from the start that I think they’re going to be the team to beat. They’ve got a very talented team,” Ponting said.
“They’ve got all bases covered with their fast bowling, their spin and their top-order, middle-order batting. They’re going to be extremely hard to beat. But we’ll see how they hold up under extreme pressure as well,” he concluded.
Following their convincing win over Pakistan, the Indian men’s cricket team has reached Pune, where they will face Bangladesh on Thursday.