The Rise of the Hitman: The Rohit Sharma Story
By R. Kaushik
Rupa Books, 232 pages, Rs 595

With Rohit Sharma’s retirement from Tests, an era comes to an end in Indian cricket. Veteran cricket writer R. Kaushik’s new book (with a foreword by Sharma’s wife Ritika Sajdeh) traces his roller-coaster journey from his early days in Borivali to ultimate glory in Bridgetown—through the eyes of his contemporaries, his friends and his coaches. They are all unanimous in their view that Rohit has remained unchanged through the various ups and downs of a career most fulfilling.

From his Under-17 days, Rohit was earmarked as one for the future. Blessed with loads of natural ability, he made batting look very easy. Fusing the Mumbai school of batsmanship with organic flair, he broke into the Indian team when only 20 and immediately impressed during the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007 and in the triangular series in Australia in 2008.

There were disappointments, too, along the way. On the morning of his Test debut, he sustained an ankle injury in February 2010 and had to wait until November 2013 to earn his Test cap. He was also left out of the Indian squad that triumphed in the 50-over World Cup at home in 2011.

Despite starting his Test career with centuries in his first two matches, Rohit struggled for consistency and a settled slot in the middle order. He resurrected his limited-overs career on being asked to open in January 2013 and did likewise in Tests when he became a red-ball opener in October 2019. In early 2022, he was named India’s all-format captain, succeeding Virat Kohli.

He was instrumental in India reaching the final of the 50-over World Cup at home in November 2023, ending a prolonged barren run by winning the T20 World Cup in June 2024 and bringing home the Champions Trophy in March 2025.

Here is an excerpt from the book:

Captaincy, the Rohit Sharma Way

One of the key factors that ruled Indian cricket, until maybe even a decade back, was the fear of losing. Especially going into away Tests, the first objective was to not lose the game; victory was almost an afterthought. That started to change under Kohli’s captaincy as India strung together a pace attack which could give back as good as India got. Under Rohit, India haven’t played a lot of overseas Tests—just eight at the end of the Australian tour of 2024–25—but there have been plenty of white-ball games away from home, including the last two T20 World Cups in Australia and the Americas, respectively.

Rohit is a hands-on captain who loves being part of all meetings—batters’ meetings, bowlers’ meetings, you name it. He isn’t just an attendee but an active participant on all such occasions and is a huge believer in data and technology. It’s not that he doesn’t go with his gut feeling, instinct and intuition, but he likes to be armed with details on match-ups and micro-analytical aids that might give him even the slightest edge in this technology-driven era.

The amount of time Rohit devotes to his teammates is something that awes V.V.S. Laxman. Ahead of the 2022 T20 Asia Cup in the UAE, a dress rehearsal for the World Cup in Australia a month later, Dravid contracted Covid and joined the team late; Laxman doubled up as the coach for the first few days. ‘In those four days, he impressed me so much,’ Laxman recalls. ‘The time he invested, the effort he made to spend time with every player, with every bowler… You know, one of the best meetings I have been a part of is when all the batters got together. It was a great discussion, Rohit leading the way and everyone chipping in—be it Virat, Hardik, D.K., everyone contributed there. But Rohit was clearly the leader. It was almost like he was, as a coach, talking to them.

‘I remember when I took over at the NCA (December 2021), Kuldeep Yadav was there, rehabilitating. Rohit took Kuldeep into the conference room and sat down with him for nearly an hour. After that interaction, Kuldeep told me, “Sir, this is exactly what I needed.” And you know how Kuldeep’s graph has soared after that.’

One of the other things that struck Laxman in Dubai was Rohit’s clarity of thought. ‘We were discussing the playing XI and he was very clear about what he wanted, who he wanted and why he wanted specific personnel. He was very clear about that, keeping in mind the T20 World Cup in Australia. During practice sessions, he would finish all his stuff—do his catching, do his batting—and then talk to the other players. It was great to see his involvement and the effort he was making to ensure that he is connecting with everyone. To me, that was fabulous.’

Agarkar is as amazed by Rohi’s man-management skills as his tactical acumen and astute strategizing. ‘He’s a friend to everyone in the team,’ he says of the captain. ‘In today’s day and age, there’s a lot more on everyone’s plate where players are concerned, and particularly so if you are the captain. It’s a different world with three formats now. Everyone’s trying to juggle that, where you’re good at. To then have a captain who actually is friends with everyone—I don’t think there’s anyone in the team who Rohit wouldn’t go and have a meal with, which is very rare today.

‘I’ve been involved with IPL teams, I have done a little bit of commentary; I can see people generally by themselves a lot more than perhaps in our time,’ Agarkar observes. ‘It’s not a criticism; it’s just the way it has evolved now. But he’s still that guy; he’s actually seen the other side of it. His head and heart are still very old school, which is a real benefit for him. He knows that you’re judged on the success that you get playing for the country. I mean, IPL is just as important, or T20 cricket, franchise cricket, is just as important. And you still want to do well wherever you play.

[…]

To Anil Kumble, the standout feature of Rohit as captain is his honesty. ‘He’s extremely honest,’ the former captain emphasizes. ‘You can see that on the field itself—he’ll just straightaway tell a player what he thinks. That’s a great attribute to have. That, and the fact that he’s a great team player. You can make that out from the way he goes about things. He leads from the front; he certainly walks the talk in terms of how he wants the team to play. He made that shift himself; it was very clear after the T20 World Cup (semifinal) loss in Australia in 2022 that the shift had to be made, and he did that as the captain by not just asking his players to make it but by himself leading from the front.

[…]

It’s hard to believe sometimes that Rohit has only been India’s all-format captain since early 2022. He has already led India to the finals of showpiece events in all three formats—the World Test Championship, the 50-over World Cup and the T20 World Cup, capping it off with another title tilt at the Champions Trophy. The first two ended in great disappointment—the second one particularly so after India mounted an extraordinary campaign right up until the final—but the third time was the charm for Rohit and India, and the fourth mirrored the triumph of the third. That alone will cement his legacy as one of India’s great leaders, though it is evident that Rohit has more going for him than just the World Cup crown, no matter how desperately it was sought after in June 2024, and the Champions Trophy, where India rewrote history by becoming the first three-time winners.

[The excerpt reproduced with the permission of the publishers.]