Rohit Sharma’s proud childhood coach Dinesh Lad wants the Indian opener to win the World Cup 2023 trophy for the country after being honoured with India’s highest sports honour, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.
Rohit Sharma was the highest scorer for Team India in the World Cup 2019. But he failed to score runs in the semi-final against New Zealand which costed the team as they eventually lost the marquee clash, leading their ouster from the tournament.
In the recent interaction, Dinesh Lad, while recalling the hard work Rohit Sharma had done during an early age, has shown his desire to win the forthcoming World Cup trophy. He said that Rohit, who belonged to the poor family, had talent and justified with winning the prestigious award.
“Getting the Khel Ratna is a great achievement. I should not say this but if a poor boy has talent and he justifies it and has luck, then that boy can reach the sky and a living example of it is Rohit Sharma. All that he has earned due to his hard work and talent.
“My expectation is that the forthcoming 50-over World Cup, Rohit should win it for India on his own ability,” Lad, a popular cricket coach in Mumbai circles, said on Marathi cricket chat show “Coffee Cricket Ani Barach Kahi”.
Dinesh Lad shares how he spotted Rohit Sharma’s talent:
Lad also reminisced how he spotted Rohit’s talent. The coach observed Rohit’s brilliance during a school-level competition but surprisingly, Lad was impressed with the Indian opener’s bowling, not with batting.
“There was one camp organised in Borivali, and there were some matches organised. I had put my school’s team and Rohit’s team came into the final and it was a 10 over game on a cement wicket, we won that game.”
“That time our school was new and I used to search for kids, the way Rohit bowled, I was impressed and thought that we should take this kid to our school,” recalled Lad.
Dinesh Lad wanted Rohit Sharma in his school team so he requested the school’s head to waive off his fees. And thanks to that school, as the Mumbaikar got the admission and India got it’s the best cricketer as him.
“I asked the (school) director to waive off his fees and Rohit was the first kid for whom I did that, at that time I didn’t think that he would play for India. They admitted him. If at that time, this granted freeship wouldn’t have happened, you couldn’t have seen Rohit Sharma,” Lad recalled.
In the last World Cup, Rohit Sharma became the first cricketer in history to score the five-century in a mega event.