ICC World Cup 2023: ‘He’s been fantastic’

India captain Rohit Sharma (right) and head coach Rahul Dravid during a practice session at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Saturday. Pic/Bipin Patel

Rohit Sharma was hailed on Saturday as a "fantastic" captain for leading India to a perfect eight wins from eight matches and a place in the World Cup semi-finals. India play their last league match against the Netherlands in Bangalore on Sunday before they move on to the semi-finals.

The hosts have remained unbeaten with impressive wins over arch-rivals Pakistan, defending champions England and most recently South Africa.

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Strike-rate of 122.77

The 36-year-old Rohit, who may be in his last World Cup alongside 35-year-old Virat Kohli, has scored 442 runs including one century at a strike-rate of 122.77.

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"Rohit has certainly been a leader without a doubt," coach Rahul Dravid said on Saturday. "He's led by example both on and off the field. There have been some games where it could have been tricky for us, but the fact that he's been able to get us to those kinds of starts has literally cracked open the game." Dravid added: "He's been fantastic in his batting, the leadership that he's shown and taking on the game, in leading from the front."

Rohit's 131 against Afghanistan led the way and he followed it up with an 86 in the crushing win over Pakistan.

Key contributor

The captain's 87 remained key in a low-scoring game against England. Rohit took over the captaincy from Kohli, who was removed from the job in 2021 without a world title under his leadership belt.

India have travelled an exhausting 12,000km (7,500 miles) on their World Cup journey and Dravid said the team has played good cricket across all
venues.

‘Represented India fantastically'

"We've travelled the length and breadth of this country and played in eight venues. This is our ninth," said Dravid. "I think what this team has done really well is it has represented India fantastically. It's played a really good brand of cricket," he said.

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