Rohit Sharma will officially take over the reins of the Indian ODI team on South Africa tour after Virat Kohli was relieved from his leadership duties in the format. Rohit, a six-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champion won his first title under legendary Australian player Adam Gilchrist in 2009 at Deccan Chargers (DC). During the second season of the cash-rich league, Pragyan Ojha was also the part of the title-winning team and saw how Gilchrist saw a leader in Rohit.
“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,” said Ojha while speaking on Cricbuzz.
The Deccan side which finished bottom of the table in 2008 turned things around and were crowned champions in 2009 where both Gilchrist and Rohit were in full swing. The 34-year-old who had a breakthrough season with the Hyderabad-based franchise scored 362 runs while picking up 11 wickets in the season. His bowling statistics also included a hat-trick against his future side Mumbai Indians (MI).
Gilchrist’s captaincy was a major influence for Rohit as he would go on to win five more titles, all coming as a leader of the MI side. As of now, Rohit remains the most successful player in the history of IPL (even ahead of legendary MS Dhoni) and his leadership also comes as a bonus for the national side. In 2018, he guided India to the Asia Cup T20 title in the absence of Kohli and was seen as a future leader. Rohit will also serve as deputy to Kohli in the Test side during India’s tour of South Africa.
