BENGALURU: Rohit Sharma was hailed on Saturday as a “fantastic” captain for leading India to a perfect eight wins from eight matches and a place in the World Cup semi-finals.

India play their last league match against the Netherlands in Bengaluru on Sunday before they move on to the semi-finals.

The hosts have remained unbeaten with impressive wins over arch-rivals Pakistan, defending champions Engl­a­nd and most recently South Africa.

The 36-year-old Rohit, who may be in his last World Cup alongside 35-year-old Virat Kohli, has scored 442 runs including one century at a strike-rate of 122.77.

“Rohit has certainly been a leader without a doubt,” coach Rahul Dravid said on Saturday. “He’s led by example both on and off the field. There have been some games where it could have been tricky for us, but the fact that he’s been able to get us to those kinds of starts has literally cracked open the game.”

Dravid added: “He’s been fantastic in his batting, the leadership that he’s shown and taking on the game, in leading from the front.”

Rohit’s 131 against Afghanistan led the way and he followed it up with an 86 in the crushing win over Pakistan. The captain’s 87 remained key in a low-scoring game against England.

Rohit took over the captaincy from Kohli, who was removed from the job in 2021 without a world title under his leadership belt.

India have travelled an exhausting 12,000km (7,500 miles) on their World Cup journey and Dravid said the team has played good cricket across all venues.

“We’ve travelled the length and breadth of this country and played in eight venues. This is our ninth,” said Dravid. “I think what this team has done really well is it has represented India fantastically. It’s played a really good brand of cricket. We know we have nine boxes to tick, and we’ve ticked eight.”

Dravid hinted that the regulars in the playing 11 would not be rested ahead of the semi-final on Wednesday.

He said he was focusing on getting his best players in the best mental and physical shape for the semi-final, “and hopefully the final if we earn it.”

“We’ve had six days off from the last game so we’re pretty well rested and the guys are in good shape. That’s all I’ll say,” he said. “To be honest with you, you’re at the pointy end in a tournament now.”

The Netherlands have made an impact in the 10-team tournament after they stunned a high-flying South Africa. They also beat Bangladesh.

“I think the performances of teams like the Netherlands certainly go a long way in boosting the morale of a lot of the other associate nations. They can certainly compete, they’ve got some very good players,” said Dravid. “And it’s quite inspiring to see that in spite of the challenges they face they’re able to compete at this level to play at this level.”

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2023