'He's cool as a cucumber' - Irfan Pathan draws comparison between Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni

Former all-rounder Irfan Pathan has compared India skipper Rohit Sharma with the legendary captain MS Dhoni. Giving further clarification on the same, Pathan has said that while Dhoni is called Captain Cool, Rohit is as cool as a ‘cucumber’. After registering whitewashes in the home limited-overs series under Rohit’s reign since November 2021, the Men In Blue are now on the verge of a 2-0 win against Sri Lanka in the ongoing Test series.

This is Rohit’s first assignment as the Indian Test captain after being appointed Virat Kohli‘s successor who had shockingly relinquished the red-ball captaincy after a 1-2 series defeat to South Africa in January. Meanwhile, the hosts defeated the Lankans by an innings and 222 runs in the series opener.

Rohit scored 46 runs in the second innings of the pink ball Test match in Bengaluru and also added 42 runs with Mayank Agarwal for the opening stand. The middle-order duo of Shreyas Iyer (67) and Rishabh Pant (50) then took matters into their own hands and went after the Sri Lankan bowlers as India declared their innings at 303/9. In reply, the visitors have lost the wicket of opener Lahiru Thirimanne for a duck during their mammoth chase of 447 as they went to stumps at 28/1.

One should learn from Rohit how to lift the side on his shoulders: Irfan Pathan

“Every player goes through that phase in his career when he isn’t able to perform and only left with disappointment. The current team has two such players: Jadeja and Rohit. Jadeja hasn’t looked back since the 2017 Champions Trophy final… and Rohit has changed a lot since the 2011 World Cup snub. There used to be a lot of talk about his talent. But he himself would say that he was much more than just talent,” said Pathan while speaking on Star Sports.

“He worked hard on his skill-set and the best opportunity came in the 2013 Champions Trophy. He was given the role of opening the innings and that took Rohit’s career to another level. His performance was a notch above and that improved his consistency as well. We talk about Dhoni being Mr Cool but Rohit is cool as a cucumber,” he added.

“He was also appointed Mumbai Indians skipper midway through the season. He replaced Ricky Ponting and completely changed the Mumbai franchise. Mumbai does a lot of meetings and being involved in the process in detail is a tough task. One should learn from Rohit how to lift the side on his shoulders and be involved in his team’s growth,” the cricketer-turned-broadcaster said.