Rohit Sharma enjoyed the perfect start to his Test captaincy, leading India to a win by an innings and 222 runs against Sri Lanka in the first Test.

While it was his first Test match as captain, Rohit Sharma is not new to the role, having captained India in ODIs and T20Is previously and leading Mumbai Indians to five IPL titles since becoming captain in 2013.

All those years of experience has certainly helped him mature as a leader and Ravichandran Ashwin, who himself passed a milestone - becoming India’s second-highest wicket-taker in Tests, noted a few key qualities about the Hitman.

“We all know how tactically strong Rohit is but I also saw a lot of human element in the way he led the side. He is looking out for everyone in the team, the way he wanted to look after Jayant Yadav, our third spinner; Rohit wanted to rotate the bowlers, like keeping the pacers on from one end through the match,” Ashwin said in a chat with BCCI.

“Even beyond these tactical things, he was able to keep the game simple. When Rohit wanted to declare, he wanted Jadeja to get a double hundred. Eventually Jaddu said it’s not important because it will take time and we should declare. It’s not like Rohit is new to captaincy and I thought he did a phenomenal job.”

Ashwin also felt that Ro lived his dream when he walked out for the first time as India’s Test captain.

“Captaining India in a Test is a matter of great pride and an honour for any cricketer. Becoming captain may not be everybody’s dream, all you want to do is wear the Indian jersey but I’m sure Rohit lived his dream to the fullest on that day,” stated Ashwin.

“To start off by winning the toss was extremely important and obviously I think he would have enjoyed that big margin of victory as a captain for the first time.”

The first Test against Sri Lanka was the best result one could have asked for on Test captaincy debut and we are eager to see what the future holds for Ro.

How do you think he will do in the second Test, Paltan?