Rohit Sharma, India’s current ODI captain, was on a totally different route before he became one of the most dangerous opening batters in white-ball cricket. Dinesh Lad, Sharma’s childhood coach, recently shared an interesting fact about Sharma’s early career: he began as a bowler when he was 12.
Lad talked about how Sharma’s journey began in a podcast with Gaurav Mangalani. Lad remarked, “I first saw him as a bowler when he was about 12.” “I saw him play a game against us.” Lad was so impressed with the young boy’s ability that he talked Sharma’s uncle into sending him to his school.
Lad said that one of the most important “mistakes” he made back then was not giving Sharma a chance to bat. Lad’s first year as Sharma’s coach was all about helping him improve his bowling. But the tipping point came out of the blue.
“One day, as I was walking into school, I observed a boy batting. I could see from outside that the bat was coming quite straight and well. “I didn’t know it was Rohit at first,” Lad said. He let Sharma bat in the nets at number six or seven when he figured out who he was.
Even though his team lost, young Rohit Sharma took advantage of the chance and scored a great 40 runs in his maiden game as a hitter. Lad was so delighted that he started giving Sharma more practice hitting, bringing him up to second and third in the nets.
Lad stated, “The way he was batting made me think he was a very good batter.” Lad told Sharma to work on his batting more since he saw how good he could be with the bat. He also told Sharma to keep his bowling as a secondary ability. This important choice changed the course of Rohit Sharma’s career and put him on the way to being one of the most devastating and graceful openers in modern cricket history.