‘Sweet 16’: India captain Rohit Sharma completes 16 years in international cricket

There is something about 16 that has a lingering sweet aftertaste. Ask Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, who completed 16 summers as an international cricketer after starting as a highly-rated 20-year-old from Mumbai’s famous stable of batters. On June 23, 2007, Rohit made his debut under current head coach Rahul Dravid’s captaincy in an ODI game in Ireland, a match India won quite easily as one got a glimpse of the youngster clad in full-sleeved jumpers amidst biting cold in Belfast.

Following 441 international games, 17,115 runs and 43 international hundreds, the 36-year-old ‘Hit-Man’ now stands on the most important cusp of his illustrious career: To end the 10-year jinx for an ICC trophy.

An antithesis to Mumbai’s much talked about ‘Khadoos’ school of batsmanship, Rohit’s graceful strokeplay is what makes him stand-out among his peers.

But as he leads the team to West Indies, one can recollect how Rohit had described his feelings when Dravid, the then captain informed him about his debut.

“It was way back in 2007 when I was selected, but the first time I had the opportunity to interact with him (Dravid) was in Bangalore at a camp,” Rohit had told mediapersons during an interaction just after Dravid took over as coach.

“It was a very brief chat and I was actually kind of very nervous and I never used to talk so much even with my age group of people, so leave alone these guys at that point. “So I was just quietly doing my things and getting a move on with my game. But yeah, in Ireland the first time when he came and told me that you will be playing this game I was on the moon, obviously, it felt like a dream to be part of the dressing room,” he had recollected. Dravid remembered it during that press meet as if it happened a day before.

“I guess time flies, doesn’t it? I actually remember Rohit even before the Ireland series when we were playing a challenger in Madras (Chennai). We all knew that Rohit was going to be special,” he said.

“We could just see that he was a very very special talent that I wouldn’t, so many years later, be working with him that I never thought about or envisaged….

“But honestly, the way he has grown as a leader and as a person over these last 14 years now. What he’s achieved both as an Indian player and as a leader for the Mumbai Indians has been phenomenal.

“Having to carry the legacy of obviously Mumbai cricket and Indian cricket is not an easy one and he’s done it with a lot of grace and class,” said Dravid.

However, as he completes 16 years in international cricket, the best compliment from a distance would certainly be from Virat Kohli.

“When he burst onto the scene, everyone spoke about this young player Rohit Sharma and I used to be curious,” Kohli had said during YouTube show ‘Breakfast With Champions’.

“We are also talented young player so why this fuss about this guy alone? Then we saw T20 World Cup and once I saw him bat, I quietly slumped into my couch because when you saw, you knew what people were talking about.

Perhaps, it was nice to take a trip down the memory lane and recollect a sweet compliment on Rohit’s Sweet 16.