For the first time in an ICC competition, Rohit Sharma will be playing as the skipper of the Indian team, and at 35, this may be his final World Cup in the T20 format. Rohit has pushed for a high risk, high reward strategy since the most recent T20 WC in the United Arab Emirates. It has aided him in landing desirable 20s and 30s. But many believe that by using this strategy, he is undervaluing himself.
This leads to tracing back the history of this legendary batter of Indian team, dating back since 2007 April. Following the cricket team’s early exit from the ODI World Cup in the West Indies, supporters were still processing their feelings.
In exchange for the hosting rights for the 2011 ODI World Cup with Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, the BCCI had reluctantly agreed to send a team to the T20 World Cup, which would be hosted in South Africa in 2007.
By the end of June, they had to assemble a team and identify 30 probables. To assemble a player pool, they held an event called the Interstate T20 competition. Stadium entrance was free, and there was no TV coverage.
Ajinkya Rahane was lost on the opening pitch as Mumbai, chasing 142, faced Gujarat in the West Zone match at the Brabourne Stadium. Rohit Sharma, who was only 19 years old, came in and promptly scored the first T20 century by an Indian, smashing an unbeaten 101 off 45 balls with 13 fours and 5 sixes.
He was selected for the England and Ireland white-ball tours and was among the 30-man probables for South Africa the following month. The man went on to become a white-ball giant despite having inconsistent opportunities in the beginning. This marked the beginning of the journey of one of the great individuals in the history of cricket.
Rohit along with the guidance of his childhood coach, Dinesh Lad rocked the game against South Africa to replace Yuvraj Singh in the team. Lad even stated several facts and strategic plays that Rahul followed back then, preferably mentioning his choice of the straight bat and his choice of shots.
These qualities, along with a talent for choosing length early and obtaining more time than others, gave him another quality: Confidence. Rohit agreed when MS Dhoni, the team captain, urged him to bat at the top of the order in the ODI match against England in 2013 in Mohali. It ended up being a career-defining choice. The same is true of his 2019 Test comeback, during which he consented to open.
