Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians to Indian Premier League (IPL) title wins in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019 — a record four times — but former India fast bowler Irfan Pathan believes that many in the cricket fraternity still feel that “he needs to work hard”. Clearing the misconception about the Indian opener and the vice-captain of the limited-overs teams, Irfan Pathan said Rohit Sharma “always talks about working hard” and puts the team first. Irfan Pathan also compared Rohit Sharma with domestic batting stalwart Wasim Jaffer to further elaborate his point.

“Lot of people are mistaken when they see a guy who has a lot of time and he is slightly more relaxed than compared to Rohit. Then you say he needs to work hard! The same things were said about Wasim Jaffer when you look at his aura, when he used to run very relaxed, when he used to bat he had a lot of time and we used to think – why isn’t he working hard – but actually, he was working really hard,” Pathan said on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.

“Similarly with Rohit, from outside we used to think he might need to work harder, he might need to put more application. Whenever you talk to Rohit Sharma, he used to always talk about sensible things, he used to always talk about working hard and he used to always talk about the team first as well, that is why you see some of the results he got at the captain of the Mumbai Indians team,” he added.

Rohit wasn’t a part of the Indian team for the 2011 World Cup that won the country’s second title at the ICC mega event under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. Pathan believes that is where Rohit was left behind in the race but he worked hard to post a strong impression after 2012.

Promoted

“He got the beating of not playing the world cup and then came back really hard because of a strong mindset after 2012,” he said.

Rohit will next be seen leading Mumbai Indians if and when the IPL 2020 commences. The 13th edition of the cash-rich league was scheduled to start on March 29 but has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.