Ricky Ponting Reveals About Suggesting Rohit Sharma's Name For Mumbai Indians Captaincy To Franchise Owners

Former Australian player Ricky Ponting opened up on Rohit Sharma being appointed as the captain of Mumbai Indians in IPL 2013.

Ponting was roped in by Mumbai Indians in 2013 and appointed the star Australian player as their captain. Owing to his poor performance with the bat, Ponting dropped himself after a match against Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals).

Ricky Ponting explains how Rohit Sharma was made captain of Mumbai Indians in 2013

Ponting, who is the current head coach of Delhi Capitals, revealed that he had recommended Rohit’s name for captaincy when he was asked by the Mumbai Indians owners.

“I was at Mumbai Indians when Rohit Sharma took over the captaincy there. I was bought in the auction to be their captain and unfortunately, I wasn’t playing well enough after the first few games to keep myself in the team. So I had to make room for another international player to come into the side,” Ponting was quoted as saying by the official website of ICC.

“The owners and the team management wanted to know who I thought would be the appropriate person to take over the leadership at Mumbai Indians. There were a few names thrown around between owners and the other coaches, but it was really clear to me that there was only one guy that can lead the team – he was a young guy and his name happened to be Rohit Sharma,” he added.

BCCI will have a decision to make: Ricky Ponting on India’s future Test captain

Many cricket pundits have suggested the name of Indian batter Rohit Sharma, who is India’s new limited-overs skipper, to take over the red-ball captaincy after Virat Kohli vacated the position a couple of weeks ago.

Rohit’s success with the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, winning them five titles, has always been a point to look at his leadership credentials.

The former Australian captain said that the Indian cricket board needs to decide whether to have one captain for all formats or share the responsibilities.

“They (BCCI) will have a decision to make what they want to do with their (captains’) roles as well, whether they split roles or they want to keep the same captain for all formats,” he added.

Rohit Sharma will be leading India for the time in the ODI series against the West Indies since he was handed the complete white-ball captaincy ahead of the South Africa tour.

Also Read: His Experience As Mumbai Indians Skipper At The IPL Would Help – Aamer Sohail Believes Rohit Sharma Is The Right Choice For Captaincy