"He was mature beyond his years" - Former MI skipper Shaun Pollock recalls how a young Rohit Sharma impressed him

Former Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Shaun Pollock has stated that current skipper Rohit Sharma was identified as a future leader very early in his stint with the franchise. The South African legend recalled that Rohit was viewed as someone who had rare maturity for a cricketer of his age.

After beginning his IPL career with the Deccan Chargers, whom he represented from 2008 to 2010, Rohit was picked up by MI in 2011. In 2013, he led Mumbai to their first IPL title and has since captainted them to the crown on four more occasions.

Sharing his views on a young ‘Hitman’, Pollock told Cricbuzz that the elegant batter was part of the IPL team’s selection group right from his early years with the franchise. The former South African fast bowler recalled:

“We definitely identified him in the early years as a person who could be a possible captain. He was in our selection panel in the two years that I was there, in 2011 and 2012. He was very mature beyond his years in many ways. Whether he was able to do the captaincy or wanted to do it as early as he could, that was going to be the big question. But since he’s taken over, he has delivered five titles. He has gone from strength to strength and his performances have been great as well. He’s been fantastic for the Mumbai franchise, as Dhoni has been for CSK.”

Pollock added that while Rohit managed to settle quickly into the leadership role, the presence of a legend from Ricky Ponting at the start of his stint must have been a big help. He opined:

“From a leadership perspective, he settled on his own style quite quickly. He managed to implement that and stick with that. At the time (he took over), Ricky Ponting was playing at that stage. That would have helped a little bit from the thought process perspective. He’s done fantastically well.”

Rohit was the Player of the Match when Mumbai lifted the title for the second time in 2015. He clobbered 50 in only 26 balls as MI thumped CSK by 41 runs in Kolkata.

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“He commanded that respect” - Shaun Pollock on why Rohit Sharma stood out as a youngster

During the discussion, Pollock informed that the talented batter commanded respect in the Mumbai setup as a youngster because he was seen as someone sensible and had cricketing achievements as well. Rohit was part of India’s 2007 T20 World Cup win and had an impressive tournament with the bat.

Sharing his thoughts on why the Mumbai young gun stood apart from the rest, the 48-year-old explained:

“He seemed a bit unflappable in many ways. He was a character who was very calm in the background. He’d have a few cricketing discussions and the reasoning behind some of the decisions that he suggested be made had some really good cricketing sense. He commanded that respect. He played in that T20 World Cup that they ended up winning. He couldn’t have been more than 19-20 at the time. Everyone respected him and thought highly of him as a cricketer and as a thinker as well.”

The 35-year-old led Mumbai to consecutive IPL titles in 2019 and 2020. However, MI failed to make the IPL playoffs 2022 last season and have been eliminated from the race this year as well.