'He has done everything': Simon Doull names the 'most selfless Indian cricketer' he has seen

Following their triumph in the ODI series, Indian cricket will now play South Africa on December 26, 2023. On Thursday, the ODI team led by KL Rahul prevailed 2-1 in the series. Now that prominent veterans like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah will be returning following the ODI World Cup, the attention will be on the two-match Tests.

3 things you need to know 

• India tied the T20I series against SA by 1-1 
• India beat South Africa in the 3rd ODI by 78 runs 
• India triumphed in the ODI series by 2-1

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Simon Doull names Rohit Sharma as the most selfless Indian cricketer

Former New Zealand fast bowler Simon Doull praised Indian skipper Rohit Sharma for his selfless attitude to batting and leadership, particularly in light of the upcoming Test series against South Africa.

As India prepares to play the Proteas, Rohit, 36, will lead the squad in a Test series in South Africa for the first time, trying to overcome a task that has evaded the Asian powers despite close calls in the recent series.

After guiding India to the World Cup final and ending as the tournament's second-highest run-scorer with an amazing tally of 597 runs at an average of 54.27 and a strike rate of 125.94, Rohit enters the Test series with significant momentum.

Doull showed his trust in Rohit's ability to retain his aggressive batting style and astute captaincy in a post-final ODI interview with Star Sports, predicting victory for India in the next Test series against South Africa. Simon Doull said: 

“It will be about tempering his game a little bit. The one thing I have observed about Rohit Sharma in the last 10-18 months is that he has probably been the most selfless Indian cricketer I have seen in a long, long time. He has done everything he possibly could for his team to win. He made this team, he played in a certain way to allow the others in the team to be able to play the way they play, in white-ball cricket in particular,”

"In the World Cup, we saw that he set the tone at the top of the order, which allowed the middle order to play the way they played. So, it's a slight change for him, not too much. I still want him to be that aggressive Rohit Sharma. We do see it in Test matches."

"The captaincy thing. He is getting really better. He has become a very, very good captain. He was always a very good white-ball captain, but I think he has become a slightly more aggressive red-ball captain. I am looking forward to seeing more of that through this series," 

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India’s squad for South Africa Tests

 Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (wk)