Mumbai Indians, led by the most successful captain in IPL history, Rohit Sharma, will aim for their sixth title as they kick off their campaign against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday. Despite missing Jasprit Bumrah, the team boasts a formidable lineup of match-winners.
The roles of Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard will likely be taken over by Australia all-rounder Tim David and Cameron Green. Moreover, Jofra Archer’s return is expected to help fill the void left by Bumrah.
Since his IPL debut in 2008 for the now-defunct Deccan Chargers, Rohit has come a long way. He led MI to their first IPL victory four years later in 2012. However, Rohit had already become an IPL winner in 2008 with DC, where he played alongside cricket giants such as Andrew Symonds and Adam Gilchrist. In that same team was Rohit’s close friend, Pragyan Ojha, whom he had known since they met at an U-15 camp, and their friendship has flourished over the years.
Nevertheless, former India left-arm spinner, Pragyan Ojha, disclosed that his first encounter with Rohit wasn’t all smooth sailing. In fact, after Ojha dismissed Rohit, the “special player,” in their first game together, the Mumbai batsman was quite aggressive towards Ojha.
During the show ‘My Time with Rohit’ on Jio Cinema, former India left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha revealed that when he first met Rohit at an U-15 national camp, the Mumbai batter was being aggressive towards him after Ojha dismissed him in the first match they played together. However, their friendship began to grow over time.
In a recent banter between the two, Ojha had remarked that Rohit’s relation with his former opening partner Shikhar Dhawan shows signs of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly as batting together helped their friendship grow. When asked about this comment, Rohit responded humorously, saying “Pragyan? Has he started doing commentary? Well, alright, it’s good.”