Rohit Sharma’s $2 Million Deal in 2011: Dreaming of Leading Mumbai Indians in 2013 IPL

Back when the first Indian Premier League (IPL) was about to start, Rohit Sharma was chosen by the Deccan Chargers team and they paid him a lot of money – around 4.8 crore rupees. He was mainly a batter, but he really wanted to be the team’s leader after three years.

After IPL 2010, even their captain Adam Gilchrist agreed that Rohit could do a great job leading the team. If the Deccan Chargers had kept him for the next year’s IPL, his wish of being the captain would have come true quickly. But he had to wait a long time for that to happen.

Only a couple of seasons after the Mumbai Indians bought him for 2 million dollars (around 9.2 crore rupees) in the 2011 IPL auction, he became their captain in the middle of the 2013 IPL season. He took over from Ricky Ponting, who was a great captain from Australia.

Rohit Sharma Aims to Become Mumbai Indians’ Captain in IPL 2013 Instead of Harbhajan Singh

Back in the days, Rohit Sharma played for MI under Indian cricket legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh in 2011 and 2012 IPL seasons. He was hoping to become the leader of the team in 2013. But he had to wait for six more games because the team not only bought Ricky Ponting in the auction (they paid 2.1 crore rupees for him) but also chose him as their captain. This wasn’t a big surprise.

Once, Rohit was talking with a really good Indian spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin, on Instagram in May 2020. He shared that he thought he would become the team captain in 2013, but the people in charge had different plans.

He said, “In 2013, we got Ricky Ponting in the auction. In 2012, Sachin (Tendulkar) said he wouldn’t lead Mumbai, and Harbhajan Singh became the captain. But in 2013, I don’t know why Harbhajan wasn’t made captain. I thought I would become the captain, but then Ponting was bought in the auction.”

But actually, Harbhajan Singh himself decided to step down from the captain’s role in IPL 2013. He wanted someone else from the team to do it. This was even though Mumbai did well in his first season as captain, reaching the playoffs.

Ricky Ponting’s Teachings Bring Success for Mumbai Indians, Thanks to Rohit Sharma

When Rohit Sharma talked with Ashwin, he mentioned how Ricky Ponting had a really good effect on everyone in the team, especially the young players. Ricky was the first person to come to India before the start of the sixth season of the IPL, which is a big cricket tournament.

In an interview a few months later, Rohit said to India Today that Ricky Ponting taught him something important. He learned to talk to players who were not playing in the matches, so they still felt valued by the team. He wanted them to know that they were important, even if they were not on the field.

Because of this approach, the team won their first IPL title in Rohit’s first season as captain. Five months later, they also won the Champions League T20 title. Now, after ten years, Rohit has led the team to a total of five IPL titles.

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