File photo of Jasprit Bumrah with Rohit Sharma at the T20 World Cup.© AFP
Former Indian batting coach Vikram Rathour heaped praises on T20 World Cup-winning Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, calling him a "shrewd tactician" and opened on his move to end Jasprit Bumrah's overs early during the T20 WC title clash against South Africa. Rathour, who had a stint with Men in Blue as a batting coach from 2021-24, during which India finished as runners-up in two ICC World Test Championships, runners-up in the ICC Cricket World Cup held at home last year and finally the T20 champions after beating Proteas this year, was speaking on "Find a Way with Taruwar Kohli", a podcast by former U19 World Cup winning cricketer Taruwar.
Speaking on the podcast, Vikram said that Rohit could forget about his decisions after winning the toss or his valuables during a trip, but he never forgets his game plan.
"He might forget whether he has decided to bat or bowl at the toss, or his phone and iPad in the team bus but he never forgets his gameplan. He is very good at it and is a very shrewd tactician," Rathour said.
The former batting coach called Rohit a "player's captain" and lauded him for investing so much time and energy in team meetings and strategies.
"He is a player's captain. He is invested with the players. I have never seen a captain, who is so invested in team meetings and strategies. He spends a lot of time on the team's strategy. He is part of the bowlers' meeting, batters' meeting. He wants to sit with the bowlers and batters to try and understand what they are thinking. He invests a lot of time with the players," Rathour said.
Speaking about ending Bumrah's four-over spell by the 18th over during the title clash, Vikram said that giving the ball early to Bumrah helped choke Proteas' run flow when they seemed to be in a dominant position, needing 30 runs from 30 balls while chasing 177. The final two overs went to Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya, who were left with 20 runs to defend. Arshdeep and Hardik did the job successfully, winning the game for India by seven runs.
"He (Rohit) is tactically very good as a captain. In the T20 World Cup final, he finished Bumrah's over early. A lot of people must have questioned that decision but that decision put us in the situation, where 16 was needed in the last over. His tactical decisions on the field are spot on. Sitting outside, it surprises you as a coach as well. We from outside sometimes think what he is doing but then you realise what he has done after a while," Rahtour concluded.
India ended their 11-year-long ICC trophy drought as Virat Kohli (76), Axar Patel (47), Hardik Pandya (3/20) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/18) starred in Men in Blue's seven-run win over South Africa in the final at Barbados on June 29. Virat's masterclass knock helped India reach 176/7 in 20 overs, while Bumrah and Pandya unleashed a pace choke on Proteas, snatching the match from a losing position to restrict Proteas to 169/8 in their 20 overs.