Rohit Sharma could have hardly thought of a better way, over winning the second title in Men’s T20 World Cup, to call his time from the shortest format of the game, against South Africa in Barbados, and that too under his captaincy, to end a wait of 17-years, when they became the inaugural champions.
When the requirement was to be positive and show a bit of aggression at the opening position, Rohit Sharma decided to step up and keep on nailing the boundaries from the beginning, as he ended the ninth edition of the 20-over ICC event with 257 runs in eight innings, at an average of under 37 and a strike rate of 156.70, with three half centuries.
The two innings that stood out for him in the entire tournament were the match-winning knocks of 92 runs against Australia and the 57-run inning against England. Both of those were separate from each other, as the second one came under the pressure of the semi-final.
‘Rohit Sharma’s performances in school tournaments were stellar’- Yogesh Patel
By winning the 20-over ICC event, Rohit Sharma joined the likes of Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni to be the Indian captain to win an ICC trophy. 25 years ago, a young Rohit was admitted to the Swami Vivekananda International School, where the director of the institution, Yogesh Patel offered the Nagpur-born free ship to be able to study in the school.
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‘I gave free ship to Rohit in 1999. We gave him the scholarship on merit. Rohit was staying at his uncle’s place at that time when my coach supported him during one of the tournaments.’ Yogesh Patel expressed this in an exclusive interview on ‘India Today’.
At the age of 37, he finishes as the highest run-getter of the T20I format, with 4231 runs in 151 innings, at an average of 32.05, with a strike rate of over 140, besides celebrating 32 half-centuries and five centuries, at the best score of unbeaten 121-run knock.
Patel believed that Rohit had done the right thing by pulling the curtains down at the right time, winning the World Cup, rather than being forced to take retirement for some unwanted reasons.
‘It was a surprise and shock to us and the whole nation because everybody wanted to see Rohit as the captain; if not the captain, then as a player.’ Yogesh Patel remarked. ‘But when he announced his retirement, I felt that it was a good decision as he bowed out on top. He is a very wise boy; he is smart, and he is mature and talented as well. So, he knows what he needs to do.’
The veteran also looked back at the memory lance when Rohit Sharma used to come up with stellar performances in the school tournaments. From making the school proud, the Indian captain has gone on to make the whole nation proud.
‘We used to advise him in school, not anymore. Now, the entire world bows down to him. I take a lot of pride as he has grown up in front of us. His performances in school tournaments were stellar.’ Mr. Patel observed. ‘Rohit not only made our school proud but the whole nation proud. I thank him for coming to our school and putting us on the international map.’
Under the captaincy of the Mumbai batter, India displayed another golden performance as a team during the ODI World Cup, where they were unbeaten for 10 games including the semifinal, before being defeated in the final against Australia.
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Even in that event, Rohit Sharma went with an aggressive and positive mindset. He took his team off to flier with the 47-run knock in 31 balls, before falling to Glenn Maxwell’s bowling thanks to the sensational catch by Travis Head.
‘India is a country with a 1.4 billion population and every person has their own brains and opinions. During this time, I believe that players should be cut off from social media because if you read through the comments, it will hurt you.’ Mr. Patel concluded.
Rohit Sharma will be in action again during the upcoming three-match ODI series in Sri Lanka.