Former Indian batting coach Vikram Rathour hailed Rohit Sharma as a 'shrewd tactician' and claimed that his captaincy played a big role in India's T20 World Cup triumph earlier this year.
Rathour, whose was India's batting coach from 2021 to 2024, revealed that he has never seen a captain like Rohit, who is so invested in team meetings and strategies.
"He might forget whether he has decided to bat or bowl at the toss, or his phone and iPad in the team bus but he never forgets his gameplan. He is very good at it and is a very shrewd tactician," Rathour said on former Under-19 World Cup winning cricketer Taruwar Kohli's podcast 'Find a Way with Taruwar Kohli'.
"He is a player's captain. He is invested with the players. I have never seen a captain, who is so invested in team meetings and strategies. He spends a lot of time on the team's strategy. He is part of the bowlers' meeting, batters' meeting. He wants to sit with the bowlers and batters to try and understand what they are thinking. He invests a lot of time with the players," he added.
Rathour revealed how Rohit's brilliant captaincy helped India snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the final against South Africa. The Proteas looked to be cruising towards victory with 30 needed from the last five overs with six wickets.
Rohit brough back his strike bowler Bumrah to bowl the 16th over, who did well to build the pressure by stopping the flow of runs. He conceded a total of six in his last two overs -- the 16th and 18th over -- to finish with wonderful figures of 2/18 in four overs. Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh conceded just 12 runs from the final two overs to bowl India to a memorable seven-run victory as South Africa once again choked on the big stage.
"He (Rohit) is tactically very good as a captain. In the T20 World Cup final, he finished Bumrah's over early. A lot of people must have questioned that decision but that decision put us in the situation, where 16 was needed in the last over," Rathour stated.
"His tactical decisions on the field are spot on. Sitting outside, it surprises you as a coach as well. We from outside sometimes think what he is doing but then you realise what he has done after a while."
