Former New Zealand National Cricket Team all-rounder Scott Styris has backed the claim made by veteran Lucknow Super Giants leg-spinner Amit Mishra that Indian National Cricket Team captain Rohit Sharma has not changed after gaining fame and is still the same person he was a decade ago.
A few months ago, in a podcast, Amit Mishra made explosive statements about current greats Virat Kohli and Rohit. The leg-spinner had stated that Kohli changed with fame but that was not the case with Rohit who remains humble despite being the captain of the Indian team.
Now, Scott Styris has made a similar statement about Rohit Sharma. Styris and Rohit played together in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the now-defunct Deccan Chargers. They were teammates in the 2008 and 2009 IPL seasons and also won the championship together.
In a recent interaction, Scott Styris revealed that when he saw Rohit Sharma for the first time at Deccan Chargers he knew that the batsman was special. He went on to reveal about his interaction with Indian captain Rohit Sharma during India’s recent tour of Sri Lanka 2024 and said that Rohit is still the same guy he was 16 years ago.
“It was my first opportunity to be a teammate and watch (and listen to) Rohit Sharma. He was with us at Deccan Chargers. I was 19 or 20 at the time and I could see that this kid was something special. I just came back from Sri Lanka where I was commentating on the India vs Sri Lanka match, I met him there and he is still the same kid he was 16 years ago,” Styris told cricket.com.
It is noteworthy that India suffered a shock 0-2 defeat in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka on the tour. India fielded a full-strength lineup against the Sri Lankan Lions but poor performance from the batsmen saw India lose the last two matches.
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The first year we were the favorites to win and we finished last – Scott Styris
Scott Styris further spoke about the Deccan Chargers and claimed that they finished at the bottom despite having a star-studded squad in the inaugural edition of the IPL due to poor balance in the team.
“In the first year we were the favourites to win and we finished last. Part of the reason was that we didn’t have a great balance. We had big names on paper, but you are only allowed to play with four foreign players.”
“Either we were filling the batting and the bowling was weak, or we were filling the bowling and the batting was weak. When we tried to fill it with all-rounders, we fell a little short and weren’t strong enough in either of them and finished last,” Scott Styris said.
However, Deccan Chargers clinched the IPL trophy in 2009 by defeating Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 6 runs at the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg under the leadership of Adam Gilchrist. Rohit Sharma also played a key role in the victory as he scored 24 runs with the bat to help his team post a good total.
Talking more about Rohit Sharma, he will be next seen in action in the upcoming two-match Test series against the Bangladesh National Cricket Team at home, starting from September 19. After the series against Bangladesh, India, under the leadership of Rohit, will host New Zealand for a three-match Test series, before travelling to Australia for the iconic 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
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