3 Reasons why Rohit Sharma is a better captain: The Hitman of Indian cricket has given his fans several reasons to call him superior to Virat Kohli when it comes to captaining the shortest format of the game, if not in ODIs. Rohit Sharma has shown his leadership prowess in the limited opportunities he received while Virat goes on leave and his experience with the Indian Premier League is unmatchable.
It won’t be wrong to say that Rohit Sharma might well retire as the greatest IPL captain in terms of matches won and titles lifted. Sharma has bagged five IPL trophies with Mumbai Indians (MI) since 2013. In the last two years, Rohit has clinched two IPL titles in succession and also has a fair chance to make it a hattrick in the upcoming IPL 2021 phase 2.
Owing to Rohit Sharma’s outstanding leadership role, Mumbai Indians became the most successful IPL franchise with the most number of titles. There are a lot of factors that make a team successful and captaincy is the first and foremost one.
If a team doesn’t have a good leader, the success rate always tends to decrease, no matter how good the team and the balance is. The leader is one who binds a bunch of people together and excites them to give their best shot.
On the other hand, Virat Kohli, India’s most successful captain, has failed to get his hands on the IPL title even once. Though having a fantastic record in international cricket, Kohli has never achieved IPL glory.
This very article will take you through why Mumbai Indians’ skipper Rohit Sharma is a better IPL captain than Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli.
3 Reasons why Rohit Sharma is a better IPL captain than Virat Kohli:
Backing of Player:
A team consists of players who are humans and humans tend to go through several pale and purple patches in their career. A captain or a leader is someone who understands it and backs his troops despite a few low patches. There are several historic stories that advocate how crucial it is to back players.
Rohit Sharma understands the game of cricket well and has a clear eye to judge talent. Having gone through a purple patch early on in his career, Sharma was backed by his captain MS Dhoni and the future Rohit Sharma has ruled the world of cricket like no other.
Hardik Pandya had an average of 6 when he just started in the IPL. His success stories would mean nothing had he not been backed by Rohit. Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga too had a rough phase a few years ago where both struggled drastically but their skipper backed them at Mumbai Indians and both have proved their worth time and again.
Mumbai Indians’ spinner Rahul Chahar and Ishan Kishan have often revealed Rohit Sharma’s qualities when it comes to back players.
Virat Kohli has often failed to back players in their initial careers and pale patches. KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Quinton de Kock and Shane Watson are the prime examples of Virat’s failure to back key players.
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3 Reasons why Rohit Sharma is a better IPL captain than Virat Kohli.
Tactical brilliance:
Leading a bunch of people is a real tough job. One has to take care of each individual and has to do things according to everyone’s liking as well as bring out the right result. Leading a cricket team, especially in a fast-paced T20 match is mightly difficult.
There are certain changes the skipper has to do every minute and there is nothing like taking a rest for a second. Right from picking the accurate playing 11 to playing the final ball of the match, hundreds of changes needs to be done in between to turn the result in favour.
Rohit Sharma has accepted that burden quite comfortably. His decisions on and off the field are tactically sound and have often found himself one step ahead of the opposition.
Virat, on the other hand, has lacked a few aspects of these. Virat’s on-field decisions a lot of times are driven by emotions when it comes to T20 cricket. He has failed to pick a right playing11 a lot of times for RCB.
It is quite important to access the surface and then pick the right playing11, however, Virat has not given priority to that at all, even in international cricket. Virat always goes forth with a balanced approach and a set winning combination which hurts him at the end.
For an instance, Rohit Sharma benched his lead spinner Rahul Chahar in an all-important final of the 2020 IPL against Delhi Capitals. The tactical move was taken after accessing the surface at Dubai International Stadium. Instead of Rahul Chahar, Rohit Sharma opted to play Jayant Yadav to get depth in bowling as well as batting.
Balanced emotions:
There are two types of captains, one, who shows his emotions on the field and the other, who doesn’t give an inch of it. Well, Rohit Sharma comes somewhere in between these two.
The Mumbai batsman has mastered the art to soak in the pressure and the on-field tensions and is often seen not driven by emotions. He loves to hover around the bowler amid stiff situations while looks to cheer when there is some breakthrough and any incident to celebrate.
The RCB skipper, Virat, loves to express his emotions on the field and his reactions will often convey the dynamics of the cricket match. He can be seen as disappointed and extremely cheerful at the same time.
The emotionally balanced approach has worked for India in the past. MS Dhoni, the former Indian skipper and CSK’s current skipper, has won three ICC titles with his cool and calm approach. The composed Rohit Sharma has shown his greatness in the IPL with five IPL titles.
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