Rohit Sharma has the chance to replicate what MS Dhoni did in the 2011 World Cup: Former India cricketer
Former Indian cricketer Maninder Singh believes Rohit Sharma still has a lot to offer the Men in Blue with the ODI World Cup coming up next year.
The Indian captain faced a lot of criticism for his and the team's performances in the T20 World Cup, especially for the way in which they were knocked out of the semifinals.
Maninder feels Rohit might need to work a bit on his fitness as he seemed lethargic while fielding and batting in the T20 World Cup. The former cricketer feels the 35-year-old should look nowhere else but at his teammate Virat Kohli, who has maintained excellent fitness standards.
Replying to a Sportskeeda query during a media interaction arranged ahead of the India vs Bangladesh ODI series, here's what Maninder Singh had to say about Rohit Sharma:
"Rohit Sharma has the chance to replicate what MS Dhoni did in the 2011 World Cup. I feel like he has a lot of cricket left in him. He needs to look at his fitness and take inspiration from Virat Kohli. That affected his shots in T20 World Cup.
"I hope the break has helped him reflect on his shortcomings because he is going to play a huge role for India in the World Cup."
Washington Sundar, if fit, can be a huge asset to India: Maninder Singh
Maninder Singh was also impressed with the performances of young all-rounder Washington Sundar against New Zealand recently.
Sundar was excellent with both bat and ball and showed that he had the potential to become a regular for the Men in Blue across formats. He scored a memorable half-century in the final ODI, which was washed out due to rain.
#BlueJersey, A feeling second to none! 🇮🇳 https://t.co/HvKjTY1EuU
Maninder believes that if the youngster can focus on staying fit, he can definitely achieve big things with the national team. On this, he stated
"The only issue with Sundar is his injury problem. If he manages to take care of that, he can be a huge asset to Team India. It's not easy for anyone to come back stronger after a breakdown due to injury.
"So let's hope he has no injury issues going forward and hope he performs like he did against New Zealand."
Squad for Bangladesh ODIs: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shahbaz Ahmed, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen.