‘The Rise of the Hitman’ tells how it all started for Rohit Sharma

Any pursuit in the early years of life is influenced by one of three factors — curiosity, peer pressure, or the pure joy the exercise provides. Rohit Sharma got into cricket because that was the thing to do when he was growing up, especially in a city like Mumbai which was a dominant cricketing force at the time, with stars abound in every part of the bustling metropolis.

Sachin Tendulkar’s move from his parents’ home to his uncle and aunt’s home in the quest to hone his skills under Dronacharya Ramakant Achrekar is legendary. Rohit’s journey wasn’t the same, although there is the commonality of him living with his uncle and aunt (and grandmother) rather than his parents during his formative years.

Rohit’s father, who worked in a transport company, decided to move his family from Borivali, in the west, to Dombivli, a distant Central Mumbai suburb. That didn’t cut ice with Rohit’s grandmother, who insisted that the first grandchild of the extended family should stay with her and her younger son in Borivali. Once the matriarch had spoken, there was no scope for arguments or debates, though financial considerations also played a significant part in the final decision. So, Rohit’s father Gurunath, mother Purnima and younger brother Vishal shifted to Dombivli, while Rohit stayed put.

‘We played in our building, in the society. There is a shortage of space in Bombay. You just had to manage with whatever you have,’ Rohit had said on Jitendra Chouksey’s YouTube channel in September 2024.

‘The sport has got so many demands, be it travelling, learning the skills, fitness, training. In Mumbai, if you want to be a cricketer, you have to travel — two hours of travelling by train, five to six hours of playing, then travelling back — (and) you do not know whether you will get a seat. It did take a toll on me physically and mentally. But I enjoyed that, and those hard yards made me tough. That is what made me (what I am) today and helps make tough decisions these days.’

Rohit’s uncle enrolled him in the Borivali Sports and Cultural Association when he was only 12, a move that would hugely influence his career path. It was while playing for the BSCA team in one of the many summer tournaments in 1999 that he caught the eye of Dinesh Lad, now a renowned coach, who was then with the Swami Vivekananda International School.

His first tryst with Rohit impressed Lad so much that he met Rohit’s uncle and told him that if Rohit was seriously interested in embracing the sport as a potential career, he must consider shifting to Lad’s school. But it wasn’t Rohit’s batting that had caught the coach’s discerning eye. In one of those strange but true tales, Lad was taken in by Rohit’s off-spin.

The Swami Vivekananda International School in Gorai had been founded by Yogesh Patel in 1995. It was still in its infancy and in Rohit, Lad saw someone who could make its fledgling cricket team stronger.

At that point of time, Rohit was studying in Our Lady of Velankanni High School, where the monthly fee was Rs 30. At SVIS, he would have to pay nine times more than that — Rs 275/month. ‘Once his uncle came to know this, he told me that Rohit couldn’t join the school,’ Lad points out. ‘He said the family couldn’t afford to pay that amount each month just for Rohit’s school fees, their financial situation didn’t allow them that luxury. I went back to the director and requested him to treat Rohit as a special case and waive the school fees. He was kind enough to oblige, and that’s how Rohit eventually joined as a seventh-grade student.’

Success didn’t come instantly. The school team wasn’t among the strongest and practice facilities were quite limited. The initial focus was on the Under-16 team playing the Harris Shield; once that was out of the way, the attention turned to the Under-14 team that Rohit was a part of, which played the Giles Shield but lost early in the competition. That was it for 1999 as far as cricket was concerned.

The following year, Lad promoted Rohit to the Under-16 team while also retaining him in the Under-14 squad. One day, as he was making his way towards the school gate, Lad noticed a batter knocking and was entranced by the straightness of the bat and the timing of his strokes. ‘I had no idea who this boy was until I went closer and saw that it was Rohit. I didn’t know he could bat, let alone bat so beautifully,’ Lad says. ‘I asked him if he batted too and he said a little shyly, “Thoda kar leta hoon, sir; I manage a bit.”’

Thus, Rohit’s batting career was born. In his first outing at number three in the Harris Shield that year, he chimed in with a 40, which earned him a promotion to the top of the order for the Giles Shield in 2000. He responded with a 140, justifying his coach’s faith in him and driving Lad to spend hours with the young lad on the cement track at school.

‘He was a natural. I didn’t have to teach him to play the pull. He had the talent, his basics were strong, he was technically very sound even from an early age, and that’s why he has been able to thrive in Test cricket too,’ Lad asserts. ‘My only contribution to his batting was giving him the opportunity to open the innings.’

By the time he was in tenth grade, Rohit was bossing schools’ cricket. People were slowly beginning to take notice of his prodigious talent.

— Excerpted with permission from Rupa

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