India’s premier opener Rohit Sharma’s career graph can be plotted in two halves, before 2013 and after 2013.
In the 2013 Champions Trophy, former Indian captain MS Dhoni transformed the Mumbaikar’s fortunes by sending him to the opening slot.
Before the multilateral event, Rohit averaged just above 30, languishing in the lower-middle order. It was only when the right-hander started facing the new ball, he found his feet in international cricket.
After Rohit’s promotion up the order, he now averages almost 50, a giant leap when it comes to ODI cricket.
Many claim it was Mumbai Indians’ (MI) decision to appoint him as captain which changed his career path.
However, out of favour Afghanistan batsman, Karim Sadiq believes it was a few encouraging words from ‘Master Blaster’ Sachin Tendulkar which forced Rohit to contemplate and change his fortunes.
At one of the award functions, Sachin, in the twilight of his career was asked who could break his monumental batting record.
To which Sachin replied, “The two batsmen who can break my record are present here, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.” Further, Sachin affirmed that nothing would please him more if an Indian breaks his record.
“I watched a show where Sachin Tendulkar was asked a question on which current batsmen can break his 100 centuries record. Sachin then picked Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Before this statement, I never used to like Rohit Sharma’s batting,” Sadiq told Crictracker via Instagram Live session.
After the statement, Sadiq saw Rohit in a different light. Rohit’s performance at the highest level also improved multi-folds.
“But, after this statement, Rohit got to know about his capability and there was a change in his batting since then. Now, he can easily smack even a 150+ kph bowler. If there’s a batsman who can smash 20-25 sixes in an inning, that is Rohit Sharma in the current scenario,” Sadiq concluded.
