India captain Rohit Sharma has been playing cricket for over a decade and a half now. The young lad from Maharashtra has made a name for himself with all that hard work and determination. But there is a claim being made about Rohit Sharma by former India spinner Pragyan Ojha who also played alongside Sharma at Mumbai Indians (MI) and calls Rohit one of his best friends.
Ojha has claimed that Sharma used to deliver milk packets when he was a kid to arrange money for his cricket kits. The former India spinner recalled all of this in an episode of ‘My Time with Rohit' on JioCinema.
"When I first met Rohit in the U-15 national camp, everyone said he was a very special player. There, I played against him and took his wicket. Rohit being a typical Bombay guy, didn't speak much but was aggressive when he played. In fact, I was very surprised as to why he was being so aggressive with me when we didn't know each other! But after that our friendship began to grow," Ojha remembered.
"He was from a middle-class family and I remember he once got emotional when we discussed how his budget for cricket kits was restricted. In fact, he also delivered milk packets – of course that was really a long time ago – so that he could buy his kit. Now when I see him, I feel very proud of how our journey started and where we reached," added Ojha.
Ojha also recalled that he had foreseen an able leader in Sharma when the two cricketers played together for Deccan Chargers in 2008.
"In 2008, when T20 cricket was alien to a lot of people, we were playing for Deccan Chargers in IPL. At that time, Rohit made me understand how we can plan for T20s, and that even in T20 cricket you can become an aggressive bowler and pick wickets in the middle overs. From then on, I understood how he was thinking as a leader and how he tried to stay a step ahead of the rest,” said Ojha.
