Former India cricketer Parthiv Patel has drawn similarities between MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma‘s leadership styles. Parthiv, who has interestingly played under both Dhoni and Rohit in the Indian Premier League (IPL), reckoned that just like MSD, the Mumbaikar also offers ‘security and backing’ to the players, which helps in getting the best out of them.
Notably, Parthiv said all this after Rohit got off to a brilliant start in his stint as a full-time white-ball skipper of Team India. Recently, the ‘Men In Blue’ registered a clean sweep over West Indies in the ODI series, which was Rohit’s first series as India’s ODI captain. After the ODI battle, India also defeated the Caribbean’s in the first T20I in Kolkata to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Parthiv said that Rohit brings stability to the team, and much like Dhoni, the newly appointed white-ball skipper doesn’t like to modify the team combination. The Bhavnagar-born mentioned that backing certain players results in success which both Dhoni and Rohit have proved with their IPL teams Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI).
“Obviously, we see stability in him (Rohit). I’ve played under Dhoni and Rohit for CSK and MI, respectively. India have to shorten the pool and give security to some players. If a player gets some backing, he can perform better… and Rohit offers you that. Dhoni also provided you with the same thing. Chennai have fared well in the IPL because they don’t like to change their players that often. Mumbai also have a similar formula,” said Parthiv in a chat show on Cricbuzz.
Not to mention, ahead of the T20I leg against West Indies, Rohit had said that experiments are essential but not at the expense of security for the players.
“The word ‘experiment’ is a little overrated in my terms. We are trying to fill in that gap in our squad, so whatever it takes, we will try and do. Not necessarily experiment, because all these guys are very young, not played a lot of cricket to keep experimenting with them,” Rohit had said.
