Mumbai: Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma said on Monday that having two-time World Cup-winning captain Ricky Ponting in the side as coach helps him learn a lot about leadership skills and qualities.
“Whenever I get the opportunity to captain a side, it is a learning process for me. Also I am working alongside a great skipper Ponting who has led Australia to two World Cup wins. He has lot of ideas, how to win big tournaments. The way he monitors the team, talks to the team is a great learning experience,” Rohit said at a promotional event here.
Mumbai Indians are yet to put up a consistent show in the ongoing tournament having lost five out of their seven encounters. They have legends Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Anil Kumble as part of the team as icon, coach and mentor. But still their performances have been average.
But Rohit is not losing sleep over it and is looking forward to the coming matches. “We have to accept our performance has been poor. Winning two matches out of seven we know we have not performed well. But nothing’s over yet. In 2014 we were in the same situation losing earlier matches and then qualified for play-offs,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean we will keep on losing initial matches in years to come. It has to be seen that a couple of boys were suddenly injured and one missing. It affects the combination of the team.”
A confident Rohit further added, “But we still have a quality squad. We have a good batting and bowling attack. We have to now keep being positive and keep performing well as a unit.”
Sharma said he is extremely happy and feels honoured after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recommended his name for the Arjuna award. The BCCI Working Committee met in Kolkata on Sunday where they decided to recommend Rohit’s name for the prestigious award.
“It is something to be really happy about. I feel honoured that BCCI has recommended my name for Arjuna award. It feels great. Yesterday I got to know about it, really feels good,” Rohit said at a promotional event here.
The Mumbai boy made a world record for the highest individual One-Day International (ODI) score in an innings last year by blazing 264 against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
When he cracked a 126-ball 137 against Bangladesh in the World Cup last month, Rohit joined an elite club of cricketing legends — Englishman David Gower and West Indies’ Viv Richards — to become the third batsman to score two centuries at the historic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) as an overseas player.
He first came into the limelight after some class batting acts in the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2006 which prompted the selectors to pick him for the senior national team.
