Rohit Sharma will take over the captaincy reign of India's T20I side permanently on Wednesday (November 17) as India take on New Zealand in the first of three-T20I series. The encounter takes place at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. For Rohit Sharma though it comes as an utter coincidence as he also made his captaincy debut for the Mumbai's Ranji Trophy side at the same venue. It was worth noting that Rohit was leading Mumbai against Rajasthan team who were defending champions and had won back-to-back Ranji Trophies in 2011 and 2012.
It was nine years ago when Mumbai visited Rajasthan for a Ranji Trophy match where Rohit led the Mumbai team. Interestingly, both the teams were led by two Marathi-speaking players as Maharashtra-born Hrishikesh Kanitkar took charge of Rajasthan. Rohit shared a tweet ahead of that encounter in November 2012, which read, “Touched down in Jaipur and yes I will be leading the side, looking forward to the added responsibility.”
Mumbai managed to take three points in that match as they secured a first innings lead in a contest that ended in draw. Put into bat first, Rajasthan managed to score 478 runs thanks to centuries from captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Vineet Saxena. While Dhawal Kulkarni managed three wickets, future India players Suryakumar Yadav and Shardul Thakur were also amongst the wicket-takers.
In response, Rohit managed to score 79 in the only inning helping Mumbai to get a first inning lead of 101 runs as Mumbai were dismissed for 579. Now 34, the Mumbai captain was instrumental in supporting role as both Hiken Shah and Abhishek Nayar ended with centuries. Mumbai finished third in group A and qualified for knockouts.
The Mumbai captain didn’t participate in the further rounds of the Ranji Trophy due to international commitments, but was handed a winners medal as Mumbai clinched their 40th title in the domestic competition. It was a unique double for him as he won the Indian Premier League (IPL) with Mumbai Indians next year.
