Rohit Sharma, Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper has downplayed his role in the franchise’s success in the Indian Premier League (IPL). According to Rohit Sharma, who was named India’s ODI captain on Wednesday, it is the players who have made MI what they are today.
Mumbai Indians-the most successful franchise in the history of the IPL has won five titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020, all under Rohit Sharma’s leadership. But they failed to make it to the playoffs in IPL 2021.
Rohit Sharma: Mumbai Indians Team Was Fantastic And Credit Should Be Given To Management For Creating Atmosphere For Outstanding Players To Perform
Reflecting on MI’s success under his leadership, Rohit Sharma said on the show Backstage with Boria Majumdar.
“What I have done at Mumbai is brilliant because of the players I have had. Honestly speaking, I have very little role to play there. The team that I had was fantastic. I want to give credit to, firstly, the management for creating such solid gun players and then creating that atmosphere for players to go and perform.”
Rohit Sharma added that as a leader he does take crucial decisions with regards to batting and bowling changes. However, at the end of the day, it’s all about the players and the team as a whole.
The 34-year-old explained: “There were certain decisions that I had to make – giving the last over, the first over to X,Y,Z… All those things, yes the captain plays a big part in that. Overall, its the players’ team.”
Apart from winning five titles with MI as captain, Rohit Sharma also won an IPL as a player with now-defunct Deccan Chargers in 2009. Rohit Sharma, who was retained by the franchise ahead of the mega auction in IPL 2022, said it was “heartbreaking” not to be able to hold on to their entire core group of cricketers.
Mumbai Indians retained a maximum of four players, the first of which was skipper Rohit Sharma (Rs 16 crore). The second player on the list was pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah (Rs 12 cr) followed by dashing middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav (Rs 8 crore). Mumbai Indians made just one overseas retention in dashing West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard for Rs 6 crore.
Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Anmolpreet Singh, Aditya Tare, Quinton de Kock, Piyush Chawla, Anukul Roy, Jimmy Neesham, Marco Jansen, Adam Milne, Trent Boult, Dhawal Kulkarni, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mohsin Khan, Yudhvir Singh, Arjun Tendulkar, Rahul Chahar, and Jayant Yadav were the players who were released by Mumbai Indians before IPL 2022 mega auctions.
Rohit Sharma Shared His Thoughts On Captaincy
Rohit Sharma is known as a calm and composed leader, who does not put too much pressure on players.
Asked to share his thoughts on captaincy, the Team India opener explained: “I feel the captain needs to stand at the back. He cannot be at the forefront. In terms of performance, he needs to be at the forefront, but in terms of everything else, he needs to be taking the backseat.
“A captain looks good when the team performs well and bad or horrible when the team doesn’t. I don’t think that is the right way to look at it. The captain is there to make sure that the right players are playing and there are a few tactical things to look after.”
Apart from being named captain of the ODI side, Rohit Sharma has also been chosen as the vice-captain of the Test team for the tour of South Africa. Rohit Sharma has been appointed India’s ODI captain, ending Virat Kohli’s five-year-long white-ball reign.
The decision to displace Virat Kohli was taken by the Indian selectors. In a media release, without detailing the reasons, the BCCI only said the selectors had “decided” Rohit Sharma should take charge of the ODI and T20I teams “going forward”. Rohit Sharma will also take over from Ajinkya Rahane as the Test vice-captain.