Rohit Sharma is widely regarded as one of the best captains in the modern-day game. Under his leadership, India won the Asia Cup last year and made it to the World Cup 2023 final without losing a single match.
Last week, Rohit captained India to a 4-1 Test series victory over England despite missing the services of several first-choice players, including Virat Kohli.
After the series, Rohit is drawing rich praise from all quarters, including his teammates. Veteran off-spinner R Ashwin revealed how Rohit went out of the way to ensure that he reached home timely to attend his ailing mother during the Rajkot Test.
On the other hand, young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal mentioned how Rohit's game-awareness and backing of players is 'next level'.
Meanwhile, former India and Mumbai Indians wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel shared an incident as to how Rohit Sharma did not shy away from backing Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya in the initial stages of their IPL career.
"Rohit is always with the players and the biggest examples of it are Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya. Bumrah joined MI in 2014, but when he played his first season in 2015, it didn't turn out that well. MI had decided to drop Bumrah midway through the season but Rohit felt this is one solid player and that they should keep him. And you saw how from 2016, Bumrah's performance reached the next level," Parthiv said while speaking on JioCinema.
"Same with Hardik Pandya. When he joined in 2015, he became quite the rage but in 2016 he had a bad season. The thing is when you're an uncapped player, franchises release you quickly and then assess how a player is performing in Ranji Trophy or other domestic matches before maybe taking them back. But Rohit did not let it happen. That's why these guys went on to become the players that they did," he added.
Rohit Sharma will be next seen in action during the 2024 edition of Indian Premier League, slated to get underway on March 22. He won’t lead MI this time around and will play as a specialist batter.
Mumbai Indians sprang a surprise last December by appointing Hardik Pandya as their new captain. The all-rounder would be succeeding Rohit Sharma, who led MI to five IPL titles in his 10-year stint as skipper.
This move came after Hardik returned to MI, following a high-profile trade from Gujarat Titans, whom he led in the past two seasons.
