‘Rohit Sharma wanted to captain Deccan Chargers, he used to think like a skipper..,’ reveals former teammate

Indian captain Rohit Sharma turned 36 on Sunday, and as per his former IPL teammate, Tirumalsetti Suman, Rohit wanted to captain the now-defunct side in 2011. T Suman, who used to be a batting mainstay in DC during the first three seasons, revealed that the young Rohit then used to think like a captain even while he was batting.

Suman, while speaking with India Today, said even the franchise promised to make Rohit the captain ahead of the 2011 season. However, things took a different turn when Mumbai Indians picked their future leader in that auction, and the rest is history.

Following his outstanding 2007 T20 World Cup campaign in South Africa, where he even scored a fifty on his debut, Rohit turned heads with his performance in the IPL for Deccan Chargers, scoring 1170 runs in three seasons. Even in 2009, under Adam Gilchrist, when DC won their maiden IPL crown, beating RCB in the finals, the attacking batter scored 362 runs in 16 matches.

Suman, who alongside Rohit and Andrew Symonds, moved to Mumbai Indians in 2011, said, 

“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. Rohit, I, and Symonds, all of us came to Mumbai Indians,” Suman told India Today.

He added that from the beginning itself, Rohit showed why he was a captain material as he even used to advice Gilchrist. Suman said Rohit was smart, and also used to think like a captain while batting.

“He was a very smart player, and even when batting, he used to think like a captain. He used to give advice and suggestions to Gilly (Gilchrist) at that time. I knew from the start, he was a captain material,” T Suman added.

Elaborating further on what made him think that Rohit would break the walls in future with his captaincy and his batting, Suman said since both used to share partnerships for DC and MI, Suman used to pick Rohit’s brains, and more often than not, Rohit’s ideas used to baffle him. 

“Back in 2009, I saw him first playing, obviously he was a star, he used to win matches single-handedly. When I used to bat with him, I used to pick his brains a lot. One of the first things he used to tell me about batting, why he consistently used to win matches as he told me that we should always think like an opponent captain when batting,” he said.

“That is a unique way of thinking. He thinks like a captain when batting also. You know when a bowler is coming when a captain used to get in those few overs of normal bowling, then he used to attack. He used to tell me during our partnerships when to attack a bowler. He was strategically very perfect,” Suman added.

Meanwhile, years later, Rohit not only succeeded as a captain – having won five IPL titles, most by any captain in this tournament, but he’s also one of the most-prolific run-scorers. 

On Sunday, Rohit will lead Mumbai Indians against Rajasthan Royals in the historic 1000th IPL game.