"He has probably been the most selfless Indian cricketer I have seen in a long time" - Simon Doull lauds Rohit Sharma ahead of IND-SA Test series
Former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull praised Indian skipper Rohit Sharma for his selfless batting and captaincy ahead of the all-important Test series against South Africa.
The 36-year-old will be captaining India for the first time in a Test series in South Africa as they look to conquer their final frontier. The Asian giants have never won a Test series in the rainbow nation despite coming close over the last few series.
Meanwhile, Rohit is coming off a magical World Cup, leading India to the final and finishing as the tournament's second-leading scorer with 597 runs at an average of 54.27 and a strike rate of 125.94.
Speaking to Star Sports after the final ODI, Doull backed Rohit to continue his attacking batting and captaincy for India to achieve success in the Test series in South Africa.
"It will be about tempering his game a little bit. The one thing I have observed about Rohit Sharma in the last 10-18 months is that he has probably been the most selfless Indian cricketer I have seen in a long, long time. He has done everything he possibly could for his team to win. He made this team, he played in a certain way to allow the others in the team to be able to play the way they play, in white-ball cricket in particular," said Doull.
He added:
"In the World Cup, we saw that he set the tone at the top of the order, which allowed the middle order to play the way they played. So, it's a slight change for him, not too much. I still want him to be that aggressive Rohit Sharma. We do see it in Test matches."
Rohit has been in impressive form in red-ball this year, with an average of 49.09 in seven games, including two centuries and as many half-centuries.
His blazing starts provided India the perfect platform to dominate with the bat in the recent ODI World Cup, where they won ten consecutive matches before facing a defeat in the grand finale.
"He has become a very, very good captain" - Simon Doull
Simon Doull believes Rohit Sharma has improved considerably as India's Test captain, on the back of success in the white-ball formats.
The champion cricketer has captained India in nine Tests, winning five and losing two with two draws. His crowning moment came when he led India to a hard-fought home series win against Australia earlier this year.
"The captaincy thing. He is getting really better. He has become a very, very good captain. He was always a very good white-ball captain, but I think he has become a slightly more aggressive red-ball captain. I am looking forward to seeing more of that through this series," said Doull.
Rohit also led India to a 1-0 Test series win in the West Indies in July and averaged 80 with the bat.
Coming off a 2-1 ODI series win against the hosts, Team India will take on the Proteas in the first Test at Centurion on December 26.