Former Deccan Chargers (DEC) player T Suman has revealed that Rohit Sharma was keen on captaining the franchise ahead of the Indian Premier League’s mega auction in 2011. Rohit Sharma had made his IPL debut for DEC against Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2008 and even took a hat-trick for them in IPL 2009, the year when they won the IPL title under captaincy of Adam Gilchrist.
Fresh from the success at the 2007 T20 World Cup, Rohit Sharma, who was already making heads turn with his prodigious talent, found a platform to further his T20 stocks at Deccan Chargers.
Rohit Sharma did not disappoint as the star batter scored 1170 runs in 3 seasons for Deccan Chargers. The 36-year-old had scored 362 runs in 16 matches in the 2009 edition in South Africa, a complete 180-degree reverse after finishing last in IPL 2008.
Rohit Sharma Wanted Captaincy Of Deccan Chargers After 2010- T Suman
His former Deccan Chargers teammate and former Hyderabad batter Tirumalsetti Suman has revealed that Rohit Sharma thought like a captain even when he is batting and was quite keen on becoming the captain of Deccan Chargers before the IPL 2010 auction.
“After 2010, what I know about Rohit Sharma was, he wanted captaincy of Deccan Chargers. After 2010, when the auction was there. The franchise also promised him, but then I don’t know what happened. The franchise went to leave all the players, then we know what happened to Deccan Chargers. Rohit, I, and Symonds, all of us came to Mumbai Indians,” Suman told India Today.
“He was a very smart player and even when batting, he used to think like a captain. He used to give advice and suggestions to Gilly (Gilchrist) at that time. I knew from the start, he was a captain material,” he added.
At the 2011 auction, Mumbai Indians secured his services for a sum in excess of Rs 9 crore, and the decision turned out to be a masterstroke. Rohit is not only one of the few batters with over 6000 runs in IPL, but he had led the MI team to five IPL titles- the most in the league thus far.