Rohit Sharma: Captaining MI can be unnerving

Dubai: It’s not the easiest of tasks to captain a team which boasts the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Harbhajan Singh and have Anil Kumble keeping an eye from the dugout – and Rohit Sharma has no qualms about admitting it.

“It’s a little unnerving to direct names like that who have worlds more experience than I do,” Sharma, the stand-in captain of Mumbai Indians admitted.

Ponting, originally named as the skipper for the IPL 6 season, chose to step down in favour of the India batsman in view of his own miserable form with the bat. “It’s an absolute honour to be able to lead a team like this. I believe in listening to what the teammates have to say and I factor everything in before I make a move. I respect their [senior players’] opinion and their cricketing knowledge,” he told Gulf News during the interview.

Answering media questions about the secret behind his success ratio as captain, Sharma had spoken about the need to remain calm some time back. Asked if it must be quite a challenge to do that in a Twenty-20 environment, Sharma said: “Honestly, it somehow comes naturally to me because I know that stressing out will not help the situation. There are times when it’s hard to keep your cool but I focus on the bigger picture and let the little things go. I focus on the things I can control.”