Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has drawn parallels with the temperament of former skipper MS Dhoni and India’s current all-format captain, Rohit Sharma.
Rohit Sharma is the most successful captain in the IPL winning 5 title for Mumbai Indians, while MS Dhoni has four for CSK, though CSK have played in two fewer seasons than MI.
Irfan Pathan pointed out that Rohit Sharma was appointed Mumbai’s skipper mid-season in 2013. Until then Mumbai Indians hadn’t won a single IPL trophy; since then, in 8 seasons, Sharma delivered them five titles.
Rohit Sharma has had a lossless start to his India full-time captaincy stint too, clean-sweeping New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka in white-ball games before making his debut captaincy Test series with a 2-0 whitewash over the Lankans.
Irfan Pathan asserted said that Rohit is as calm as Dhoni is and that’s the key reason for their success as leaders.
Irfan Pathan calls Rohit Sharma “Mr. Cucumber”
“We talk about Dhoni being Mr Cool but Rohit is cool as a cucumber. He was also appointed Mumbai Indians skipper midway through the season. He replaced Ricky Ponting and completely changed the Mumbai franchise. Mumbai does a lot of meetings and being involved in the process in detail is a tough task. One should learn from Rohit how to lift the side on his shoulders and be involved in his team’s growth,” Irfan Pathan told Star Sports.
Irfan Pathan recalled how Rohit’s career changed after Dhoni asked him to open in the 2013 Champions Trophy, before which Sharma was hailed as a talented player but someone who hadn’t yet lived up to his hype.
“Rohit has changed a lot since the 2011 World Cup snub. There used to be a lot of talk about his talent. But he himself would say that he was much more than just talent.
“He worked hard on his skill-set and the best opportunity came in the 2013 Champions Trophy. He was given the role of opening the innings and that took Rohit’s career to another level. His performance was a notch above and that improved his consistency as well,” Irfan Pathan added.
