Harbhajan Singh, the veteran India off-spinner, said Rohit Sharma will be regarded as highly as batting legends, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, when he bids farewell to the game.
Harbhajan's comment came during a live interaction at the digital launch of the latest book on high-class right-hand batsman titled ‘The Hitman’, written by eminent journalists Vijay Lokapally and G.Krishna.
"Right from the 2007 T20 World Cup, I saw (in him) someone who’s got big talent and you could sense he’s going to be a special player for India," Harbhajan was further quoted saying by Sportstar.
"He always reminds me of Inzamam-ul-Haq, having so much time, especially while playing fast bowling. He bats on a different surface than the others when he is set."
Present alongside Harbhajan, former India left-arm spinner Murali Kartik too was all praise for the Indian limited-overs vice-captain and all-format opener. Kartik thinks Rohit's calm demeanour has played a part in him captaining Mumbai Indians (MI) to five IPL titles.
"IPL and Indian cricket is completely different. There is more pressure in the IPL as you are answerable to a lot of people. Now that he has stamped his authority in international cricket as well, he can express more things silently, but Rohit has led by example," he said.
Another of Rohit's characteristics that Kartik admires is his free-speaking attitude.
"That is one thing I love about Rohit - there are no cliche statements and he will say what's need to be said. Even Virat (Kohli) is quite like that."
Harbhajan revealed Rohit's teammates refer to him as 'Shana of Borivali' as the smart batsman hails from the suburb of Borivali in Mumbai.
"We call him Shana (clever) not only because of his batting or the dialect of the area he comes from, but he was also a secret lover," Harbhajan said.
"He had kept his relationship with Ritika as a secret for over two years and since their marriage, Rohit has become a total family man," he added.
'The Hitman' is a book covering Rohit's journey from a promising young talent to one of India's modern-day cricketing giants.
Recently awarded 'Khel Ratna' award for his services to Indian cricket, the 33-year-old has played 32 Tests, 224 ODIs and 108 T20Is for the country.
