Rohit Sharma is a mixture of MS Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly: Irfan Pathan

Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan showered loads of praise on Rohit Sharma, who guided the Mumbai Indians (MI) to their fifth Indian Premier League (IPL) title in the last eight seasons. On Tuesday, Rohit’s men got past the Delhi Capitals (DC) in Dubai to get their hands on the trophy. They also became the second team after the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to successfully defend their title.

Back in 2013, the now 33-year-old Rohit was appointed as their captain, replacing Ricky Ponting, and he has managed to turn their fortunes around. Irfan reckoned that the Nagpur-born Rohit is ‘instinctive’ and knows the art of using his bowlers depending on the match situation.

Irfan praises Rohit Sharma

“The way he used Yadav showed his class. Any captain would have gone with a seamer. Rohit used his instinct. It showed how clear was his thinking. It showed that he’s a bowlers’ captain,” Pathan was quoted as saying in India Today.

Pathan also said that Rohit is a combination of Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni, who both were two of the greatest Indian captains to have played the game.

“He is a mixture of Dhoni and Ganguly. Ganguly trusted his bowlers and went by it. Dhoni trusted his bowlers but always took decisions with an instinct,” he stated.

During one of the games, Pathan was impressed by how Rohit used Jasprit Bumrah to good effect to help Mumbai gain the upper hand.

“One of the games was getting close, so he used Bumrah in the 17th over, though he usually uses Bumrah in the 18th. Bumrah brought the game back in MI’s favour.

“Look at the way he used Pollard, he didn’t make him bowl initially but when wicket had double pace, he used Pollard,” Irfan added.

Rohit had a roller-coaster ride in the IPL 2020. He played a few handy knocks in the first half of the tournament, but then had to sit out because of a hamstring injury. However, not only he returned, but also scored a match-winning half-century in the final.

He is now set to play in the Test series against Australia, starting December 17 in Adelaide. He won’t be playing in the ODIs and T20Is though.