‘Sweet 16’: Rohit Sharma completes 16 years in international cricket
On 23 June 2007, Rohit made his debut under the captaincy of current head coach Rahul Dravid in an ODI match in Ireland, a match which India won quite easily as the youngster was glimpsed dressed in long sleeve jerseys amidst the biting cold in Belfast.
New Delhi, June 23: There’s something about 16 that has a lingering sweet aftertaste. Ask Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, who completed 16 summers as an international cricketer after starting as a highly rated 20-year-old in Mumbai’s famed batting stable.
On 23 June 2007, Rohit made his debut under the captaincy of current head coach Rahul Dravid in an ODI match in Ireland, a match which India won quite easily as the youngster was glimpsed dressed in long sleeve jerseys amidst the biting cold in Belfast.
After 441 international games, 17,115 runs and 43 international hundreds, the 36-year-old ‘Hit-Man’ is now on the most important eve of his illustrious career: ending the 10-year-old jinx for an ICC trophy.
An antithesis to Mumbai’s much-discussed ‘Khadoos’ school of batting, Rohit’s graceful strokeplay is what sets him apart from his peers.
But while leading the team to the West Indies, one can recall how Rohit had described his feelings when Dravid, the captain at the time, informed him about his debut.
“It was way back in 2007 when I was selected, but the first time I had a chance to interact with him (Dravid) was in Bangalore in a camp,” Rohit had told media people during an interaction just after Dravid helm took over as coach.
“It was a very short conversation and I was actually quite nervous and I’ve never talked that much, even with people my age, so leave these guys alone at that point.
“So I just calmly did my things and got on with my game. But yeah, the first time he came to Ireland and told me you’re going to play this game I was on the moon, of course it felt like a dream to be part of the dressing room,” he recalled.
Dravid remembered it at that press conference as if it had happened the day before.
‘I think time flies, don’t you? I remember Rohit before the Irish series, when we played against a challenger in Madras (Chennai). We all knew Rohit was going to be special,” he said.
“We could just see that he was a very special talent that, so many years later, I wouldn’t be working with him that I never thought about or foreseen….
“But honestly, the way he’s grown over the past 14 years as a leader and as a person. What he has achieved both as an Indian player and as a leader of the Mumbai Indians is phenomenal.
“Carrying on the legacy of distinctly Mumbai cricket and Indian cricket is not easy and he has done it with great grace and class,” said Dravid.
However, as he has completed 16 years in international cricket, the best compliment from a distance would surely be from Virat Kohli.
“When he came on the scene, everyone was talking about this young player Rohit Sharma and I was always curious,” Kohli had said during the YouTube show ‘Breakfast With Champions’.
“We are also a talented young player so why all the fuss about this guy alone? Then we saw T20 World Cup and once I saw him bat I quietly sank into my bench because when you saw it you knew where people were talking about.
Maybe it was nice to take a trip down memory lane and think back to a nice compliment about Rohit’s Sweet 16.