"More On The Outside Than Inside": Rohit Sharma Explains His Role As Captain

Rohit Sharma explained his role as a captain. The opening batter, who was appointed as India's full-time ODI and T20I skipper on Wednesday, said a captain has to make sure the right players are picked according the best interest of the team. "A captain is there to ensure right players are playing, right combination is playing and obviously few tactical things that you need to look after," Rohit said during a conversation with cricket historian Boria Majumdar on 'Backstage with Boria.' 

Rohit, who is IPL's most successful captain with five titles to his name while leading the Mumbai Indians, said a captain has to lead with examples and the rest of the time he needs to take the backseat.

"Captain needs to stand at forefront while performing and for everything else needs to stand at the back. The reason I say that is he can make a difference by standing at the back because then he can make sure he puts his hand around everyone, that's what I meant when I said you have to be least important member of the team," he said.

The opening batter has a pretty good record as an international captain too. He has captain India in 32 limited-overs matches so far out of which, he has 26. Under Rohit's captaincy India won multi-nation tournaments like the Nidahas Trophy and the Asia Cup in 2018.

For Rohit, a captain only has 20 percent work on field and 80 percent off it.

"My role is more on the outside than inside. Give roles to players who are expected to go out there. It happens off the field. Once you are on the field, you have only three hours and little you can change in them and there are 11 guys playing and you have to look after all," he explained.

"On field, you can't change too much," said the new skipper.

Rohit, who has also been elevated as India's vice-captain in Test cricket, replacing Ajinkya Rahane, will start his journey as the full-time white-ball captain in the South Africa series, where India are slated to play three ODIs next year.

Topics mentioned in this article

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