In his first loss as captain, Rohit Sharma faced Pakistan on Sunday in the Asia Cup Super 4. Team India was defeated by Pakistan in the final over after failing to contain a total of 181 runs. India will be under pressure to win their upcoming games against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, therefore everyone will be watching to see how Rohit manages the team. Irfan Pathan, a former all-rounder for the Indian cricket team, praised Rohit’s bowling substitutions in the Super 4 game against Pakistan.
“A captain can be tested on two things specially how he handles the bowler, specially when the bowlers are new and when you are defending too. These two times you get to realise and I have seen time and again Rohit Sharma is a fantastic leader.
He manages the bowlers really well, he knows when to play which bowler,” Irfan Pathan said. “Made Bishnoi bowl an over during the power play, he had taken a wicket but he still kept him waiting, did not let him bowl another over and got him again after Chahal’s over as he knows Bishnoi is a different kind of bowler, not a typical leg spin bowler, doesn’t bowl side arm so it was difficult for Pakistan to read his bowling style that is why he had given just eight runs off his first two overs. Rohit Sharma manages the team very well and I hope that when the whole team is back, having Bumrah, Harshal Patel we’ll get to see a better performance from team India which we want to see specially if you see it from the lens of the World Cup.”
In the encounter on Sunday, Pakistan’s innings was led by the ever-reliable Mohammed Rizwan (71 off 51 balls), but it was left-handed hitter Nawaz, who is more well-known for his orthodox left-arm spin, who delivered the game-winning blow. India didn’t account for his 42 off 20 balls, and there was no gameplan for him, so Khushdil Shah and Iftikhar Ali finished off a well-deserved victory with one ball remaining. The Indians were caught off guard by the 73-run partnership between Rizwan and Nawaz in just 6.5 overs in the middle of the innings. The two bowlers that excelled against Pakistan in the group stage, Yuzvendra Chahal (1/43 in 4 overs) and Hardik Pandya (1/44 in 4 overs), were off-color on this particular day as Nawaz put them both to task.
