Former Indian cricketer Pragyan Ojha revealed that the Australian great Adam Gilchrist had first spotted leadership qualities in India’s ODI and T20I captain Rohit Sharma at a very young age when they were part of the Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
He further said that Rohit was never projected as a leader when he first came on the scene, but things slowly started to change and he started to gain confidence after the right-hander was inducted into the leadership group of the IPL franchise Deccan Chargers.
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Ojha also revealed that it was Gilchrist who wanted Rohit to be his deputy. They led the Deccan Chargers to the IPL title in 2009.
His comments came after Rohit was named as India's new ODI and T20I captain, as well as elevated to the vice-captaincy of the Indian Test team on Wednesday (December 8).
Notably, Rohit made his debut for India at the age of 20 back in 2007. He played three seasons for the Deccan Chargers before being picked up by the Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2011 and went on to become the IPL's most successful captain by winning five titles.
Ojha said on Cricbuzz Live: “When Rohit first came into the Mumbai side, he was never projected as a leader. Slowly things started to change when he was put in the core group of the Deccan Chargers. Adam Gilchrist wanted Rohit Sharma to be the vice-captain.”
He further explained, “It had just maybe been two years that he had started playing international cricket but when he used to give feedback about certain players or give a certain game plan then the team management started to see the leadership qualities in him.”
The former spinner concluded, “Discussions had started within the Deccan Chargers team that if anyone was going to replace Gilchrist, it can be Rohit. People's perspective about Rohit started to change from then that he is not only a capable batter but also can be a captain in future.”
