Rohit Sharma reveals how he was assigned Mumbai Indians captaincy in 2013

Rohit Sharma is rated as one of the finest batsmen in modern-day cricket. He has also reaped out lots of success as the Mumbai Indians skipper in the Indian Premier League (IPL). In a live Instagram session with Ravichandran Ashwin on Monday, Rohit revealed how he got the franchise’s captaincy back in 2013.

The Mumbai-based franchise is currently the most successful in the cash-rich league. They have won four IPL trophies until now in the last 12 seasons. Interestingly, they have won all those seasons (2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019) under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and Ricky Ponting have also led MI side before but the team couldn’t clear the final hurdle in the earlier seasons.

‘Ponting really motivated the younger guys’: Rohit Sharma

The 33-year-old, during the chat, recalled those days stating that in 2012 Sachin Tendulkar had cleared that he will not lead the side and Harbhajan Singh was appointed as the skipper. MI advanced to play-offs but failed to get into finals in 2012. Afterwards, in 2013, Mumbai Indians bought Ricky Ponting in the auction and he was given the charge of the team.

“In 2013, we got Ricky Ponting in the auction. In 2012, Sachin paaji said that he would not lead Mumbai Indians and Bhajju paa (Harbhajan) was made the skipper. But in 2013, I don’t know why Bhajju paa wasn’t the captain. And I thought I will be made the captain, but then Ponting was bought in the auction,” Rohit Sharma told Ravichandran Ashwin during live Instagram session.

Rohit added that former Aussie skipper was the first one to arrive in India back in 2013. As per him, Ponting wanted to understand the mindset of every player in the team. So, he conducted bonding sessions as well.

The Indian opener added that the 45-year-old soon stepped down from the captaincy as he was not scoring runs with the bat. The former player scored only 52  runs in six games for MI before he bid adieu to IPL. According to Rohit, Ponting informed him that he is going to lead MI from that point onwards.

“Ponting was the first one to arrive in India for the 2013 season. He wanted to understand everyone. He said that he wanted to have a team bonding session first. In a way, it made a very positive impact on everyone. Ponting really motivated the younger guys.

But then he was not scoring runs, he decided to step down as the skipper, but eventually, Ponting called me and I was given the captaincy. Ponting actually was player-cum-coach during the 2013 season. He was always there to help me,” he added.