Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma is one of the most successful captains in the history of the Indian Premier League. Although he first led in an IPL match in an urgent situation which arose in the sixth season of the cash-rich league, he could’ve easily begun his captaincy career at Deccan Chargers a couple of years ago.
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Sharma, who made his IPL debut for Chargers in 2008, represented the now-defunct franchise for three seasons under the leadership of VVS Laxman (stepped down midway IPL 2008) and Adam Gilchrist. In fact, the legendary Australian wicket-keeper batter had also validated Sharma’s captaincy skills and acknowledged his desire to lead.
Sharma, who had scored 1,219 runs across 46 innings at an average and strike rate of 30.48 and 130.37 respectively for Deccan between 2008-2010, hadn’t batted in accordance with his potential in the first three seasons.
Not even a regular member of the Indian national team at the time despite playing 56 white-ball matches and missing a Test debut before IPL 2010, a highly-rated T20 World Cup-winner such as Sharma was still expected to lead in the IPL at some point of time.
3 Years Before First Leading Mumbai Indians, Rohit Sharma Was Desirous Of Leading Deccan Chargers
It was earlier this year when former Deccan batter Tirumalasetti Suman revealed both Sharma and the franchise wanted him to lead in IPL 2011. However, the unforeseeable nature of an IPL auction is such that all types of yearnings can be put to rest. Interestingly, both Suman and Sharma were sold to Mumbai during IPL 2011 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,” Suman had said on Star Sports Telugu.
For the unversed, Chargers were one of the three teams alongside Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) to not retain even one player before that auction. Notwithstanding their confidence regarding buying back Sharma in the auction, they failed to do so on the back of tough competition provided by MI (eventual winner) and Kings XI.
Sharma, who represented Indians under legendary players namely Sachin Tendulkar (2011), Harbhajan Singh (2012) and Ricky Ponting (2013), first led the side after Ponting quit the job midway through the league phase. Sixth player to lead the franchise, the right-handed batter gave them much-needed stability in addition to as many as five trophies.
Adam Gilchrist Believed Rohit Sharma Was Ready To Lead Deccan Chargers
Former India spinner Pragyan Ojha, who played alongside Sharma at both DC (2008-2010) and MI (2012-2015), had disclosed that Gilchrist was very impressed with Sharma’s progress as a leader.
Having observed Sharma’s inputs as a member of the leadership group, Gilchrist used to always root for his promotion as a captain. Additionally, Ojha claimed that Sharma would’ve been Gilchrist’s successor had Deccan outperformed Mumbai at the auction table.
“Had there been no auction after the third season, then probably Rohit [Sharma] would have led the Deccan Chargers side before leading the Mumbai Indians team. [Adam] Gilchrist had already said ‘Rohit is ready now’. But in the auction, it’s not in anybody’s hand, and everyone knew that Mumbai Indians would go after Rohit Sharma because after Sachin Tendulkar, they felt that if anyone could lead the side then it would be Rohit,” Ojha was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz last year.
Sharma, whose desire to become a captain currently sees him leading the national team as well, faces a challenging task of emulating his IPL success at the highest level. Having already led India unsuccessfully in two ICC tournaments till now, Sharma would be keen to make amends by powering the team to a silverware for the first time after a decade in ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.
