Rohit Sharma nearly became bowler, batting talent found by sheer luck!! Childhood coach reveals shocking truth
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India ODI skipper Rohit Sharma's childhood coach revealed that he trained the batter to be an off-spinner before he witnessed him batting in school, post which he handed him opportunities to open, and the batter never looked back.
Rohit Sharma, the Indian batting stalwart, has been the absolute star of white-ball cricket ever since he made it to the Indian team and started featuring as the opener of the side under MS Dhoni's captaincy.
He is one of the greatest opening batters the country has ever witnessed, as he is the fourth-highest run-scorer in ODIs for India with 11,168 runs across the 50-over format. His childhood coach, Dinesh Lad, has shed light on Rohit Sharma's emergence as a destructive batter despite having started his career with some other ambitions.
Rohit Sharma's childhood coach discovered his batting talent 'by chance'—Shocking Revelation
Indian batting legend Rohit Sharma is often stated as one of the best from India in white-ball cricket; however, his coach Dinesh Lad reveals he cited the legend only as a spinner in his early days in the game. He revealed that he spotted Rohit not with a bat in hand but as a promising off-spinner.
He mentioned on a YouTube podcast with Gaurav Manglani that, “I first saw him as a bowler, he was about 12 years old. I saw him playing a match against us. Then I told his uncle (Chacha) to get him admitted to my school. The school started in 1995, and I saw Rohit in 1999. He took admission that year. In the first year, he was in under 14. During practice, I kept making him bowl.
"It was much later that I found he had equal calibre with the bat, when I saw him knocking off some great shots at the school. One day, while entering the school, I saw a boy knocking (batting). From outside, I saw the bat was coming very straight and good. I didn’t know it was Rohit at first. When I went inside, I asked him if he was batting. He said yes, sir," revealed the veteran cricketer's coach.
Rohit's coach Dinesh Lad admits his blunder, which impacted cricketers' early career
Sharma's coach admitted that he made a blunder by not letting the Indian captain bat in the nets and only making him bowl, since he could not realise his batting talent earlier.
"Then I gave him some batting in the nets at number six or seven. Before that, I had never given him batting practice. That was my mistake,” Lad admitted.
The childhood coach revealed further how, handed opportunities, Rohit excelled at the top of the batting order with promising innings.
“He batted well. In a match, he went in at number seven and scored 40 runs — a very good 40. The way he was batting, I felt he had a very good talent for batting."
"A thought came to my mind: it would be good to make him open. He was very happy when I asked, and scored 140 runs as an opener. That’s when I knew he should focus more on batting,” confirmed Lad.
Rohit Sharma to return in ODIs with the Australia series
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma is likely to return in the role of India's ODI skipper from the upcoming series against Australia in the October-November white-ball series when they tour Australia.
His return has been delayed as India cancelled their tour against Bangladesh and denied a similar offer from Sri Lanka; hence, Rohit, who now features only in the 50-over format, has not made any international cricket appearance since the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
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