The veteran Indian opener, Rohit Sharma is rated as one of the finest batsmen in modern-day cricket. He has also reaped out lots of success as the captain of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians (MI). In a live Instagram session with Ravichandran Ashwin on Monday, Rohit revealed te story of him receiving the captaincy mantle.

The Mumbai-based franchise is currently the most successful in the IPL as they have lifted the coveted trophy four times until now in the last 12 seasons and all the wins have come under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, and Ricky Ponting have also led the MI side before but the team couldn’t clear the final hurdle in the earlier seasons.

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During the chat, Rohit said, “In 2013, we got Ricky Ponting in the auction. In 2012, Sachin paaji said that he would not lead Mumbai Indians and Bhajju paa (Harbhajan) was made the skipper. But in 2013, I don’t know why Bhajju paa wasn’t the captain. And I thought I will be made the captain, but then Ponting was bought in the auction.”

Rohit added that former Aussie skipper was the first one to arrive in India back in 2013. According to him, Ponting made an effort to understand the mindset of every player in the team. So, he conducted bonding sessions as well. However, pointing scored just 52  runs in six games for MI before he bid adieu to IPL. According to Rohit, Ponting informed him that he is going to lead MI from that point onwards.

The MI skipper elaborated, “Ponting was the first one to arrive in India for the 2013 season. He wanted to understand everyone. He said that he wanted to have a team bonding session first. In a way, it made a very positive impact on everyone. Ponting really motivated the younger guys.”

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He further added, “But then he was not scoring runs, he decided to step down as the skipper, but eventually, Ponting called me and I was given the captaincy. Ponting actually was player-cum-coach during the 2013 season. He was always there to help me.”