Former England captain Nasser Hussain praised Team India’s determination, notably that of the top three hitters, as the Blues’ successful run in the 2023 World Cup continues.
The team known as the Men in Blue has dominated the competition, winning all four games convincingly and securing a strong position on the points table. Captain Rohit Sharma has been in exceptional form, scoring 265 runs at an impressive average of 66.25 and maintaining a striking rate of 137.30.
On the other hand, Virat Kohli has been in exceptional form, scoring 259 runs at an impressive average of 129.50 and a strike rate of 90.24.
Hussain, speaking to Star Sports, noted the significant shift in purpose between the T20 World Cup a year ago.
“The most important thing I like is intent. There is real intent, for a while they played a bit of timid cricket in the T20 World Cup in Australia and they lost to England in Adelaide in that semi-final. This looks like a different top three, the way Rohit, Shubman and Virat are playing are going to put a lot of top order bowlers under pressure.”
Nasser Hussain
Furthermore, Hussain commended Rohit Sharma for his outstanding batting skills in white-ball cricket and his excellent leadership as captain.
“I have thought for a long time, he’s one of the best white-ball batters there has ever been. His record is up there with the best, he’s done it in World Cups. His record against Bangladesh is magnificent, his pull shot, at one stage we showed a graphic — he was averaging 400 in the pull shot in the last couple of years. He got out to it in the end but not before he had done a lot of damage.”
Nasser Hussain
The former captain praised how Rohit switched his bowlers after losing Hardik Pandya to Bangladesh while being aggressive.
“Just the way when you lose a bowler, the way you have to think about bowlers are key moments in the games. Kuldeep was bowling really well, and he realised the way Siraj has come back with those cross-seam deliveries and then he went to Siraj. He got the wicket, and then he went back to Kuldeep, Jadeja and Bumrah.”
“He just rotated his bowlers, and as Dinesh Karthik said on commentary, it wasn’t just the rotation, he was always rotating, looking to get a wicket. So, a bit like his batting where he has the attacking option, it’s the same with his captaincy.”
Nasser Hussain
Rohit recently captained India to a strong championship run in the Asia Cup and is also one of the most successful IPL captains, having won five titles.
Despite Hardik’s absence, India held Bangladesh to 256/8 in 50 overs, a score they easily knocked down in the 42nd over by seven wickets.
“Kohli always plays the situation” – Nasser Hussain
After scoring his 48th century against Bangladesh, Nasser Hussain praised superstar Virat Kohli for his ability to pace his innings to perfection during run-chases.
The 34-year-old, known for his ability to pull off run-chases like no other, pulled within one ton of Sachin Tendulkar’s ODI tally and recorded his third World Cup century.
“Kohli always plays the situation and that’s why he is brilliant in run chases. He sees the situation out there in front of him, he won’t be much off the strike rate anyway because he never takes up deliveries or chews up deliveries.
“On a pitch like this if you wanted to go into another gear, if he was chasing 350, Kohli would’ve gone into another gear, but he was just making sure India got over the line as he often does.”
Nasser Hussain
In successful ODI run chases, the winner hitter averages an incredible 90.33 with 23 hundreds.
On Sunday, October 22, Team India will face the competition’s other unbeaten team, New Zealand, in Dharamsala.