The year 2019 forever will hold a special place for India’s vice-captain Rohit Sharma, who put on a stellar show with the bat in all formats of the game.
His career graph can be traced into two halves- before and after 2013. After languishing at the middle order since making his debut in 2007, Rohit made the opening slot his own, being sent up the order in the 2013 Champions Trophy.
Since then, there has been no looking back for Rohit as he went on to dominate white-ball cricket, notching up tons at will.
In 2019, Rohit had a brilliant start to his new innings in red-ball cricket as an opener, to silence all his critics.
Now, former Indian all-rounder, Irfan Pathan has opened up on how the Mumbaikar’s laid back attitude should not be misinterpreted for lack of hard work.
“Lot of people are mistaken when they see a guy who has a lot of time and he is slightly more relaxed than compared to Rohit. Then you say he needs to work hard!,” Pathan said on Star Sports show ‘Cricket Connected’.
Further, Pathan drew comparisons between the personalities of Rohit along with Mumbai’s domestic stalwart Wasim Jaffer.
“Similarly with Rohit, from outside we used to think he might need to work harder, he might need to put more application,” he added.
Many believe that Rohit’s change in fortune in international cricket was one of the virtues of being appointed as the Mumbai Indians’ captain. Leading the MI Paltan, Rohit clinched four IPL titles in every alternate season since 2013.
“Whenever you talk to Rohit Sharma, he used to always talk about sensible things, he used to always talk about working hard and he used to always talk about the team first as well, that is why you see some of the results he got at the captain of the Mumbai Indians team,” reckoned the retired cricketer.
“He got the beating of not playing the world cup and then came back really hard because of a strong mindset after 2012,” Pathan concluded.
