Sports: After the unfortunate end to the 2023 ODI World Cup last month, Indian captain Rohit Sharma remains absent from the national T20I squad. He will also not be playing in the ODI series against South Africa.
Despite the failure in the final match, India had an excellent campaign throughout the tournament with an unbeaten 10-match winning streak.
Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who was in the WC team but was on the bench in the final match, have all praise for the captain.
He said on his YouTube channel that people might say that MS Dhoni is the best captain, but Rohit Sharma is an outstanding person. He could understand every player in his squad, knowing their likes and dislikes.
"He puts in the effort to know each player personally," he said.
Ashwin was supposed to be in the final match, but he wasn't seen in the field. However, he spoke about it with team spirit.
"As far as I playing the final is concerned, the team combination and all is secondary. Firstly, it's about empathy, (and) I keep stressing it a lot. It's like standing in someone else's shoes and looking at things from his/her perspective. Had I been in Rohit's shoes, I would have thought 100 times about altering the (winning) combination. It was going alright for the team, so why rest a fast bowler for three spinners?" Ashwin explained.
"Honestly, I understood Rohit Sharma's thought process. Playing the final is big, (and) I was preparing for three days in the lead-up. At the same time, I was also prepared to cheer for the side and run in with energy drinks if I was not given the opportunity. I was mentally prepared for that as well," Ashwin said in his video.