Gautam Gambhir, former Indian opener and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batsman opined the fact that he is firmly convinced that Rohit Sharma climb to the height of success in his career, regardless of the poor beginning of his international career. Rohit Sharma would be keen to help India win T20 WC 2024 after the hear breaking loss in ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.
Rohit Sharma had the talent- Gautam Gambhir
In a recent interview with Sportskeeda, Gautam Gambhir reminisced on Rohit Sharma‘s poor career start against Si Lanka during his early days. Gambhir remembers the conversation he had with Rohit Sharma, where he stated that the present Indian captain would dominate the world of cricket one day. Highlighting the details of the conversation, Gambhir stated that:
“I remember that when Rohit Sharma initially came into international cricket, there was a series in Sri Lanka where he hadn’t scored any runs in five matches and there was a lot of criticism, I told only one thing to Rohit, ‘As much knowledge as I have of cricket, and from the cricket that I’ve seen, you are going to dominate world cricket.’. Good that he has been able to dominate world cricket. This was I think around 2008 or 2009,”
Despite Rohit Sharma’s gloomy start to his international career, Gambhir opined that Rohit truly deserved appreciation for turning things around.
“He had that talent even then. But turning that talent into reality and performance is completely different. So, you’ve got to give it to the man. He didn’t have a very easy start in international cricket, he had a difficult start,” the 42-year-old stated.
The former batsman emphasized the difficult career start of the captain in blue and how it helped him become an upstanding leader. He opined that the leader brings forth his expertise to the youngsters as he reckons how difficult it is to have a good start and maintain composure in the field.
“That’s one good thing because when you lead a country, and that too of the size of India, and you don’t have a good start, then you start putting yourself in other players’ shoes as well. If his start was very easy, he would have always felt that international cricket is very easy. Today, if any young player is struggling, Rohit Sharma will feel that if it was tough for him, it will be difficult for him as well. That’s why he probably leads that well and keeps it very balanced,” Gambhir elaborated.
The present second-highest run-scorer in IPL 2024 is Mumbai Indians (MI) captain, Rohit Sharma, bagging 311 runs in a total of nine innings and also an undisputed 105-run opposing Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
It was not easy to contain him- Gautam Gambhir on playing against Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma displayed outstanding batsmanship, challenging Gautam Gambhir when he was the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). He shed light on Rohit’s phenomenal record against KKR, mentioning how difficult it was to take him out. Gambhir stated:
“Because he had a quality, as simple as it can get. You have your own assessment of the players. Maybe some other captains may find some other players difficult. So, I had my own assessment for every player, and for me, it was difficult to control him, and his records were also like that against us; be it Eden Gardens or somewhere else, the way he used to dominate. But it was fun. Because when you control, or execute that plan correctly, and the results come in your favor, it’s a lot of good feeling also,”
Gambhir further went on to say that he had a lot of good moments with Rohit. Notably, how he had contributed to India’s success at the 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa, hitting 30* off 16 balls against Pakistan in the finals.
“People talk about my knock and Irfan’s spell, but Rohit Sharma’s contribution towards the back end, his run out against South Africa, are all the memories I have of him. I’ve enjoyed playing with him and interacting with him.” Gambhir stated.