Hyderabad: India is on a roll in the current World Cup as they are unbeaten so far in the marquee tournament. The Rohit Sharma-led side began their campaign by trouncing five-time champions Australia in Chennai, then crushed Afghanistan in New Delhi and defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in Ahmedabad.
Courtesy of three wins on the trot, India is at the top of the points table currently with a healthy net run rate of +1.821. Skipper Rohit Sharma played a key role in two of those wins as a batter. While he slammed a 131 against Afghanistan at the Kotla in New Delhi, he followed it up with a blistering 86 against Pakistan at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in front of 1,32,000 spectators.
Legendary Australian skipper Ricky Ponting believes that Rohit Sharma has played a vital role in India being at the top of the standings and hailed the captaincy of the Mumbaikar. "He's very laid back, Rohit. Very laid back with everything he does,” Ponting told the International Cricket Council while sharing his perspectives, powered by DP World.
"You can even see that by the way that he plays. He's a pretty laconic sort of batsman as well, and that's the way he is both on and off the field. "We can't sit back and say that the pressure won't get to them at some stage, or it won't affect them, because it will, just with the enormity of the tournament. But he'll take it and cope with it as well as probably anyone,” added Ponting, who has a staggering 13,704 ODI runs.
Ricky Ponting, part of three World Cup-winning Australian teams (1999, 20023, and 2007), said that Rohit Sharma has done a terrific job for the Men in Blue. "Someone like Virat, who is a bit more heart-on-the-sleeve, and probably listens to the fans and plays up with the fans a little bit more, someone with his personality would probably find it a bit harder,” Ponting said.
"But I think Rohit will be fine with it. He's a terrific bloke and has been a great player for a long time, and he's done a great job as leader of India,” added Ponting, who has 30 ODI hundreds and 82 ODI half-centuries. For Ricky Ponting, India has got all bases covered and they are a very talented team. "I said from the start that I think they're going to be the team to beat. They've got a very talented team. They've got all bases covered with their fast bowling, their spin, and their top-order, middle-order batting.
"They're going to be extremely hard to beat. But we'll see how they hold up under extreme pressure as well,” Ponting concluded. India next takes on Shakib-Al-Hasan-led Bangladesh at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Thursday, October 19.
