What makes Rohit Sharma a special captain? Rohit’s leadership qualities has been amply visible in the past few years, be it in IPL or in the Indian Cricket Team. Rohit has led Mumbai Indians to a record five IPL titles. He has overseen India’s rise to the number rankings in all three formats. Besides leading his teams to a number of trophies, Rohit is also attributed for backing youngsters amid adversity.
Now, former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel has revealed incidents where Rohit Sharma backed young cricketers for Mumbai Indians who went on to become established players for their franchises and country.
Parthiv Patel revealed that in two different instances, Mumbai Indians wanted to drop youngsters Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya from the team. Parthiv revealed that Rohit Sharma backed both the youngsters to stay in the team and that decision bore fruit later on.
“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 during the Legends Lounge Show on Jio Cinema.
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“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,” Parthiv added.