In the 2008 Commonwealth Bank Series, Rohit Sharma struck a blazing 70 off 64 balls batting at no.4 for India against Sri Lanka in Canberra. It was only the eighth ODI innings of Rohit, then just 20 years old and whose international career had just taken off. Young and uninhibitedly bulldozing bowlers in attendance, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, and Wasim Akram were dwarfed, and they came up with a unanimous verdict: ‘This player is destined for greatness!’
Fast forward to 2025; sequences of events show Rohit completing 11,029 runs at an average rate of 49.01 over 269 ODIs. He has accumulated 32 centuries and 57 fifties under his name, he is a double World Cup winner (one as a captain) and is widely revered as one of the finest batters for India.
On Thursday at a Dubai pitch where other batters treaded cautiously, Rohit led with moxie, handing an impressive beginning to India’s ensuing successful chase of 229 under six wickets against Bangladesh to kick off their Champion Trophy bid.
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Rohit scored 41 off 35 with the help of seven fours to set the base for a comfortable chase.
Akram recalled Rohit’s innings from the 2008 tri-series in Australia with Sri Lanka, calling the Indian batsman ‘a special’ player.
“What this chap (Rohit) is made of doesn’t come often. I recall that he had just made his debut into the Indian team-it must have been during the 2008 Commonwealth Bank series or something like that. He had scored 70 in Hobart. Either as an opener or at no.3 (No. 4). In the commentary box, it was me, Shaz (Ravi Shastri), Sunny bhai (Sunil Gavaskar), Harsha (Bhogale), Alan (Wilkins), Geoffrey Boycott, and after looking at him bat, we were unanimous that it’s destined for greatness for Rohit,” said Akram on Sports Central.
“It was lazy elegance. There are other batters who play a shot and you can see the effort behind, but Rohit used to just time the ball without putting in much effort. He is special,” added Akram.
Speaking in the show, former Indian allrounder Nikhil Chopra acknowledged how the credit for spotting and backing Rohit goes to Dilip Vengsarkar.
“The credit for picking him goes to Dilip Vengsarkar. At 19, when he was playing first-class cricket, Dilip cheta went all out telling everyone, ‘Look there is an upcoming player who could become big really soon, keep an eye on him.’ And when, of course, Rohit was playing international cricket and he had a lean patch, thanks to Bhai, he got a long rope. He had spotted Rohit for how much time he has got to execute his shots,” Chopra recalled.
