Rohit Sharma turned his career around after setback of World Cup 2011 snub: Amol Mazumdar

Former domestic giant Amol Mazumdar reckons Rohit Sharma turned his career around after the setback of World Cup 2011 snub. Rohit was not picked for the 2011 World Cup, which India went on to win in home conditions under the captaincy of MS Dhoni.

However, Rohit Sharma was able to get his ODI career on the right track after he was asked to open the innings in the 2013 Champions Trophy. Since then, Rohit has performed consistently in the 50-over version and he is regarded as one of the best batters of the current era.

Rohit has been in terrific form in the ongoing World Cup 2023 as he scored a fine knock of 131 runs against Afghanistan whereas he scored another attacking knock of 86 runs against arch-rivals Pakistan.

The talisman has amassed 10329 runs in 254 ODI matches at an impressive average of 49.19 and a strike rate of 91.22.

“According to me, when he wasn’t selected in that 2011 World Cup where the team happened to go and win the tournament, that really upset him. After that, he’s just been excellent. When he got the captaincy (in the IPL) later, it added responsibility on his shoulders, and he really matured.

“And he’s never looked back after that. That was one setback which he took positively and turned it around for himself,” Mazumdar said on Star Sports show, “Follow the Blues”.

Mazumdar lauded Rohit Sharma’s captaincy and also hailed him for keeping things simple as a leader. Rohit is well known to get the best out of his players and he has done a fine job as a skipper.

“I want to highlight 3 things about his captaincy. The first one is that Rohit Sharma gives a lot of weightage and importance to data and statistics. The second one is, he keeps things very simple and tries to make his team members to think simple. He keeps everyone in the team in a very cool and calm atmosphere.

“And, the third one, which is the most important point, is that he has that magical touch in him. Whatever changes he makes, that comes out like a magical touch, like, for example, Mumbai Indians got that magical touch in their team after Rohit Sharma became their captain,” Muzumdar added.

India will next take on Bangladesh at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Thursday.