India’s white-ball vice-captain Rohit Sharma has had an influence on many young players in the Indian team. He has also led India well in Virat Kohli’s absence and victories in Nidahas Tri-series and Asia Cup in 2018 apart from bilateral glories are proof of his leadership skills.

Recently, Rohit Sharma paid rich tributes to the talent of opener-keeper KL Rahul by saying that the Karnataka lad has cemented his place as an opener in T20Is and its competition between himself and Shikhar Dhawan for the remaining spot at the top.

"Humbled by Rohit's words (that Rahul is the first choice and then it's decided between me and Dhawan in T20Is). I have been a huge fan of his batting and I have played with him for a few years now but he is someone who is in the team, how do I say, like some cricketers get dumbstruck after watching Sachin Tendulkar, they don't know what to say,” Rahul said to India Today.

KL Rahul opens up on being omitted from India's Test squad

Rahul highlighted the ways Rohit has helped him gain confidence, given that he has cemented his spot in blue jersey for India, but lost his place in the Test team.

"But he is someone in the team who has given me that sense that he has a lot of faith in me and as a senior player I have seen that he has backed me and stood by me on a lot of instances. When senior players feel like there is a guy who can take responsibility and can be amongst one of the senior players that give a young player or a player who has not played consistently for the country a lot of confidence,” Rahul said of Rohit Sharma.

Rahul and Hardik Pandya were suspended from the Indian team after their controversial appearance on Karan Johar’s chat show “Koffee with Karan”. Rahul talked about the changes that the experience brought in him as a player.

"With this suspension and with all that happened I was tempted or I was in a way wanted to be selfish and play for myself and I failed when I started focusing on myself and individual scores. So I told myself I need to go out and do what the team wants me to do," he added.

(IANS inputs)