Rohit Sharma is popular among his Indian teammates. He went to help Ravichandran Ashwin, whose mother was admitted to hospital during the third Test against England in Rajkot. The veteran has guided Yashasvi Jaiswal since the first day of his international career. After the series win over the Ben Stokes-led team, the two heaped massive praise on their skipper. Rohit is often seen abusing his teammates for their mistakes, but he always makes sure that players have his backing.
Rohit is renowned for identifying talents across formats. Former India and Mumbai Indians player Parthiv Patel has revealed how Rohit saved Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya’s careers in the Indian Premier League. MI management was unhappy with Bumrah’s below-par performances and wanted to release him early in his career; Rohit intervened and ensured Bumrah stayed with the team. The rest is history.
“Rohit always backs players and Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya are the biggest examples. Bumrah joined MI in 2014 and played his first game in 2015. He couldn’t perform and the management wanted to drop him but Rohit convinced the franchise to keep Bumrah in the squad. The pacer hasn’t looked back since then,” Parthiv Patel said on Jio Cinema.
Bumrah joined Mumbai Indians in 2013, but after being a part of 17 matches across the first three seasons, he only had 11 wickets in his kitty. But after Rohit’s confidence in him, Bumrah became a different bowler. Similarly Rohit showed interest in Hardik Pandya’s career.
Hardik scored 44 runs and took three wickets from 11 matches in 2016. It was Rohit, who came to the rescue of the all-rounder. After getting Rohit’s backing, Hardik became a top contributor for Mumbai Indians.
“Hardik Pandya joined in 2015 and became an instant hit. However, he flopped in 2016. Such players are released by the franchise but Hardik was lucky that he had Rohit Sharma to back him. These guys became big starts because of Rohit.”
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