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As India qualified for the Asia Cup 2023 final, skipper Rohit Sharma has a chance to win his second continental championship title in the ODI format while leading Team India. India will face Sri Lanka in the final on Sunday and ahead of the all-important fixture, the 2011 World Cup winner, Gautam Gambhir has heaped praise on Rohit Sharma.
During India's match against Sri Lanka, Rohit Sharma (53 off 48) scored the highest run for his team in challenging circumstances and also became the only sixth Indian batsman to cross the 10,000 runs mark in the ODI format. The list also includes legendary players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni, and Virat Kohli.
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While talking on Star Sports, Gambhir said, "Scoring 10,000 runs was not easy for him. Saw many ups and downs. Having seen that phase, Rohit, as a captain, will back youngsters who go through a difficult period."
Gambhir hailed Dhoni for supporting Sharma in his "initial phase" and added, " Rohit Sharma is Rohit Sharma today because of MS Dhoni. MS backed him continuously in his initial struggling phase. If he wants to leave a legacy behind, not in terms of runs but as a captain, a lot will depend on how he backs the young players. It will be interesting to see how he grooms the upcoming players."
Earlier, Gambhir also shared an instance when he first saw Rohit Sharma in domestic cricket. The LSG mentor said, "Rohit was playing against my team in a domestic match and my team score was 350 and Rohit came at no.5 and scored 130 runs and made his team win the match from difficult conditions. I asked Wasim Jaffer who is this guy, from that day I knew that this guy is special."
