The veteran Indian opener, Rohit Sharma recently had a conversation with former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen on Instagram live chat. During the conversation, he recalled the bond he shared with Ricky Ponting and how the former Australia skipper guided him when he was handed the leadership of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians (MI).

Taking to Instagram, Mumbai Indians shared a snippet of the live chat on Monday, where Pietersen asks Rohit “Who’s been your favorite coach? Over the years, in your whole career, who has been your favourite coach?” Rohit, in response, says that it’s hard to pick a single name, adding that “they all bring something or the other to the table.” He further added, “Ricky Ponting to me was magic.”

https://www.instagram.com/tv/B-T5iB_Ks0N/?utm_source=ig_embed

Elaborating his point further, Rohit said, “The way he handled the team when he was captain for the first half of the tournament and then he gave the captaincy to me mid-way through the tournament, it takes a lot of guts to do that. I can only imagine him doing that.”

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Praising Ponting further, Rohit said, “After that as well, to be as involved as he was as support staff…he played a supporting role to all the players, to all the youngsters in the team and he was guiding me through captaincy. I got to learn a lot from him. So he was a different ballgame altogether for me.”

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Rohit Sharma was made the captain of MI in 2013 and he was the successor of  Ponting in 2013. Since then, he has led the franchise to four IPL titler as they have won the championship every alternate year. Mi has also won two Champions League T20 titles, making them the most successful team in the cash-rich league.