T20 World Cup: South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj revealed that he is a fan of India captain Rohit Sharma, lauding his fearless brand of cricket and game-reading skills ahead of the T20 World Cup final in Barbados on Saturday.
Rohit has been in great touch in the tournament with consecutive half-centuries against Australia and England in the semifinal, respectively. The opening batter hammered 41-ball 92 against Australia in the Super Eight before smashing 57 against defending champion England.
“I’ve always been a huge fan of Rohit Sharma. From a batting perspective, he is fearless. He’s got probably the best shot over cover in world cricket. From a leadership perspective, you can see he reads the game realy well. He finds a way of drawing everyone together, making everyone feel comfortable. I also think he’s tactfulness on the field and how he approaches various characters to bring out the best in them is something that really stands out for me,” Maharaj said in a Star Sports video posted on ‘X’.
South Africa batter Heinrich Klassen echoed Maharaj’s sentiments and praised Rohit’s attacking batting skills in the middle.
“I think he’s got an unbelievable cricket brain, he plays a lot of brave pulls that other captains don’t do. He does play on his ego a lot so I would like to have a conversation about how he thinks about the game. He is a special cricketer when he is in form. There is not a lot of bowlers that can bowl to him. Hopefully, he won’t get a form against us,” Klassen added.
Rohit is the leading run-getter for India in the tournament with 248 runs across including three half-centuries. He needs 33 runs to surpass Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s 281 tally to finish the tournament as the highest run-scorer.
“I think he’s got an unbelievable cricket brain, he plays a lot of brave pulls that other captains don’t do. He does play on his ego a lot so I would like to have a conversation about how he thinks about the game. He is a special cricketer when he is in form. There is not a lot of bowlers that can bowl to him. Hopefully, he won’t get a form against us,” Klassen added.
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In their last T20 World Cup match in 2022, South Africa defeated India by five wickets in the group stage. India have the chance to win their second T20 World Cup title after 2007 while South Africa eye maiden ICC crown in their debut World Cup final appearance.