Asserting the “calming influence” that Rohit Sharma had in the tournament, India’s head coach Ravi Shastri heaped praise on the captain for helping India win their seventh Asia Cup title by beating Bangladesh by three wickets in a thrilling final on Friday.
“Rohit was a calming influence and it showed in his captaincy. To keep his intensity going even after the start they (Bangladesh) had, showed he was really cool in every aspect of captaincy,” said Shastri, after the match, as quoted by The Indian Express.
He also pointed out the fact that smart bowling changes by Rohit helped India restrict Bangladesh to 222 despite the latter getting off to a flying start with fireworks from the bat of Liton Das.
“The bowling changes he made were really good, to concede just around 100 runs in the last 30 overs, I thought it was brilliant,” he said.
He was also impressed by India’s fielding in the tournament and lauded the bowlers as well for taking wickets in the middle overs and bowling well with the new ball.
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“I liked the intensity with which we played, we were a bit flat against Hong Kong in the first match, but pulled up afterwards.
The biggest plus was the fielding, game after game, we saved around 30-35 runs in these oppressive conditions,” the former India all-rounder said.
“We took wickets consistently and during the middle-overs, the bowlers were outstanding, we bowled well with the new ball in tough conditions and then the spinners came to the party,” he also added.
When quizzed about India’s Test series loss to England earlier this month, Shastri said that the scoreline (1-4) didn’t really Asia Cup 2018,reflect the performance of the side.
“It’s a different format, but I think everyone knows how well we played in England, the scorecard really doesn’t show it. This is a different format and we needed to start afresh,” the coach opined