Rohit Sharma: The off-spinner who became Hitman
Team India captain Rohit Sharma is regarded as one of the greatest white-ball batters of all time. He is the only cricketer in the history of the game to smash three double hundreds in ODIs.
Rohit is also the leading run-getter in T20I cricket, with 3443 runs from 129 matches. He also has four T20I tons to his name, the most by any batter in the format. But you will be surprised to learn that Rohit started his cricket career as an off-spinner.
In fact, his coach Dinesh Lad decided to mentor the cricketer after he saw a 11-year-old Rohit bowl a couple of overs of off-spin and was highly impressed with what the kid delivered. In an earlier interview with Sportskeeda, Lad had revealed:
“I first saw him in 1999, Borivali Sport and Culture Association had organised a tournament for various age-groups. Rohit Sharma was in the under-12 category, and his team – Velenkani School – was playing against my school in the final.
"It was a 10-over match and they scored 68 runs. We won the match easily, but I saw Rohit bowl two overs of off-spin and I was very impressed with his action.“
Lad later met Rohit’s uncle (he used to stay with his uncle) and asked him to admit the youngster to the school in which he coached. Since his uncle couldn’t afford the fees, Lad spoke to the school’s director and got a freeship sanctioned.
Rohit, however, couldn’t make much of an impression with his off-spin in the first year with the school. The team couldn’t progress beyond the second round of the Harris Shield (Mumbai's premier inter-school cricket tournament).
On how he discovered Rohit the batter, Lad revealed:
“Next year, during one of the early morning practice sessions, I saw him knocking and he was doing it quite well. I then sent him into one of the nets, he batted and I was mighty impressed with his strokeplay. That is how Rohit Sharma the batsman started off.”
@StarSportsIndia With all the talks around number 4 and 3D skills!! Why did Rohit stopped Bowling his Off-Spin. With a Hat-trick under his belt. He could be as handy as Raina if not more.
#AskTheExpert @ImRo45
The rest, as they say, is history. The 35-year-old has scored 15956 international runs from 407 matches across the three formats of the game. He has scored a total of 41 international hundreds and 86 half-centuries.
When Rohit Sharma claimed a hat-trick
While Rohit hardly bowls these days, he did claim a hat-trick for the Deccan Chargers (DC) against his future franchise, the Mumbai Indians (MI), during the IPL 2009 season.
MI were set a target of 146 for victory in Centurion in the 32nd match of the 2009 IPL edition. However, part-time off-spinner Rohit dismissed Abhishek Nayar, Harbhajan Singh and JP Duminy off successive deliveries as MI slipped from 103 for four to 103 for seven. He also had Saurabh Tiwary stumped to finish with exceptional figures of four for six.
Rohit was adjudged the 'Player of the Match' for his all-round effort (he scored 38 off 36 balls) as DC defeated MI by 19 runs.