‘Even MS Dhoni has made mistakes, but Rohit Sharma has never made one’: Former CSK star

Former cricketer Parthiv Patel on Tuesday said Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah were struggling in the early stages of the IPL for Mumbai Indians At the time, he had the full support of Rohit Sharma. Parthiv compared Rohit’s leadership skills with CSK talisman MS Dhoni, saying the Mumbai cricketer never “made a mistake” while the Chennai skipper has done so many times in his long IPL career error.

“I think the most important thing is that he (Rohit) supports his players. The best examples are Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah came into MI in 2014 and by 2015, his performance was not outstanding.” Tiv told Jio Cinema on Tuesday.

“They even considered sending him back after half a season. But Rohit Sharma believed in his ability and he has been performing very well since 2016,” the former 25-Test the Indian wicketkeeper added.

Bumrah joined MI in 2014 and went on to become the country’s first-choice pacer across all three formats and played a key role in Mumbai’s success in the IPL.

Pandya, who went on to lead the Gujarat Titans to the IPL title in 2022 after being part of the five-time champions in 2015, now returns as MI captain in place of Rohit .

“The same goes for Hardik Pandya. He came in 2015 and became popular. His 2016 season was not good but MI stuck with him and Pandya became the player he is today.” He added that Rohit brought an unparalleled sense of calm to the team.

“The best example is that in two IPL matches, MI won by just one run. This would not have been possible without a captain who could keep his cool on the ground.

“When the games are tight, sometimes bad decisions are made or mistakes are made. But the thing about Rohit Sharma’s captaincy is that in the last ten years, you don’t remember him making mistakes.

“Even Dhoni has made mistakes like dismissing Pawan Negi but if you see Rohit you can never see the mistake. Keeping the process simple was Dhoni’s advice but we see Until Rohit practiced that in the game,” Parthiv added.

Former India pacer Zaheer Khan said Rohit takes decisions based on the situation, which is one of the most difficult tasks for an IPL captain.

“You can plan a game in advance but no one knows how it will unfold in the middle. He (Rohit) acts and takes decisions based on the situation and many times they are different from what was planned before the game.

“I think that’s his strength. Taking decisions on the spot is one of the biggest challenges for a captain in the IPL and he did that very well in MI,” he added.

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