It was in 2013 that Mumbai
Indians went on to win their first IPL title and Rohit Sharma was a part of
another IPL winning team, but this time being the captain. Initially, Ricky
Ponting had been named the captain of Mumbai Indians, the excitement to see two
greats of the game, Ponting and Tendulkar, play together in the same team was
at its peak. But things didn't work out as well as they would have desired.
Ponting couldn't find his touch and time was running by. After a few matches he
decided to step down and Rohit Sharma was named the captain of Mumbai Indians.
Given the role of captaincy, Rohit started playing a lot more carefully. Now
being more determined to play a big knock and take his team through, Rohit
didn't just play a kind of a cameo and be satisfied. Mumbai Indians got good
returns of showing faith in him as he, with his consistent performances led
them to their maiden IPL title. After getting done with the IPL, he made sure
he continued the good work while playing for India too.
Prior to the IPL-6 in the
ODI series against England, Rohit was given an opportunity to open the batting
with Gautam Gambhir. He played well for his 83 but was lucky to be dropped by
Kevin Pietersen earlier in his innings. Although it had nothing to do with his
extremely good performances in IPL-6, that knock put him ahead of others in the
selection for Champions Trophy.
Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan and
Rohit Sharma were selected in the squad for Champions Trophy but only two of
the three had to be selected for the opening slot. There wasn't much fuss over
Dhawan's selection in the team because of the scintillating 187 that he scored
in his test debut against Australia followed up by some good performances in
IPL.
So a choice had to be made between
Vijay and Sharma. Vijay had a very good test series against Australia. But poor
performances in IPL along with no significant score in the warm up matches
leading up to the Champions Trophy meant that Sharma was then preferred over
Vijay to open the batting with Dhawan. Had Vijay played well in the warm-ups,
we might just have had a different opening combination.
In the ICC Champions Trophy 2013,
his promotion to the opening slot meant that now he had ample time to settle
down and not be in a rush to score from the very first ball. And in the first
match against South Africa, luck also went by his side as Dale Steyn didn't
play due to injury, making things a lot more easier in his mind as well as on
the field. After a few descent performances in the Champions Trophy and in the
following couple of series, Rohit finally did justice to his talent. Scoring a
blistering 141 not out against Australia
and then a couple of matches later, became only the third batsman to
score a double-century in ODI cricket. Thereafter he hasn't looked back and is
now a dependable opening batsman for India in limited overs.
Hence, the role of captaincy
assigned to him in IPL-6 was the turning point of his career. Mumbai Indians
have now won two titles in three seasons under his captaincy. Also in
international cricket, he is getting better as the time is passing by. Maybe
after retirement, some day he will look back and realize that taking over the
captaincy of Mumbai Indians, which would have seemed pretty challenging then,
made a whole lot of difference to his life. Be it the IPL or international
cricket, he is now a superstar at both the levels. The Ro-Hit Man!
