Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were crying after ICC CWC 2023 final debacle, reveals Ravi Ashwin

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were India’s top two run-scorers in the recently concluded tournament.

Veteran India spinner Ravi Ashwin revealed that he found it tough to see India captain Rohit Sharma and ace batter Virat Kohli shedding tears after the Men in Blue lost to Australia in the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in Ahmedabad on November 19.

Both Virat and Rohit were among the tournament’s top run scorers, with Kohli scoring 765 runs in 11 innings, including three hundreds, to surpass the legendary Sachin Tendulkar for the most ODI centuries by a batsman.

He completed his 50th century, becoming the first batter to do so in ODIs, in the semi-final against New Zealand. He scored a total of 9 fifty-plus scores in the World Cup including 6 half-centuries.

On the other side, India’s dominant performance in the showpiece event was aided by Rohit Sharma’s aggressive start. He scored 597 runs and was the tournament’s second top run-scorer, trailing only Virat Kohli.

“Yes, we felt the pain. Rohit and Virat were crying. Seeing that, it felt bad. Anyway, it was not meant to be. This team was an experienced one. Everybody knew what to do. And then, it was professional. Everybody knew their routines and warm-ups. I think two natural leaders gave the team the space to do these two (Kohli and Rohit) and created a vibe,” said Ashwin on Badrinath’s YouTube channel.

Both Sharma and Kohli are on a break since the final and were not picked for the ongoing T20I series against Australia.

Ravi Ashwin compares captaincy styles of MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma

Ravi Ashwin played three ODI World Cups, winning the 2011 tournament under MS Dhoni and reaching the semis of the 2015 edition. And now Ashwin played one match in CWC 2023 under Rohit Sharma, after playing in the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia under Rohit’s captaincy.

“If you look at Indian cricket, everybody will tell you MS Dhoni is one of the best captains. Rohit Sharma is an outstanding person. He understands every single person in the team; he knows what each one of us likes and dislikes. He has a great understanding. He puts in the effort to know each member personally,” he added.

“He puts in a lot of effort. He forgoes sleep and becomes part of meetings; he first puts in the effort. He makes an effort to understand how to explain tactics to each person. That’s an advanced level of leadership in Indian cricket.

Telling everyone to play a brand of cricket is one thing, but doing it and showing it on the field is another thing. I have known Rohit for a long time. What he did at the top set the ball rolling. He gave us confidence,” Ashwin said.

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