4 Turning points that changed Rohit Sharma's career

The Asia Cup is just a few days away from the start, and all the Asian giants will compete against each other to win this mega event. The selectors have announced the Indian squad for this tournament giving Virat Kohli a well-deserved break.

As a result, Rohit Sharma will be the captain of the Indian team and will be a key player in the absence of Kohli. Five years ago, nobody expected him to lead a national side, especially after inconsistent performances early in his career but things have changed drastically over the past few seasons.

Before 2013, Rohit's career graph was not that impressive, and seem to be going nowhere. Currently, the Mumbai batsman has achieved numerous batting records and has dominated the world cricket with his batting prowess.

Rohit has finally removed the thin line between being talented only and now being a consistent performer for the team. He has emerged as one of the prolific batsmen in the limited overs cricket.

Here is the turn of events of his career, which made him the 'Hitman'.

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#4 Exclusion from the World Cup 2011 team

Rohit Sharma was replaced by Piyush Chawla in the World Cup squad

India's 15-man squad for the World Cup 2011 was announced in Chennai, and one of the biggest surprises was the exclusion of Rohit Sharma. He was omitted owing to his poor batting performance in South Africa series just before the mega event.

Rohit stated in an exclusive interview that he missed the golden opportunity to play the World Cup on home soil. It was one of the major setbacks in his cricketing career.

The Mumbai batsman took this exclusion as a stepping stone and became more determined than ever. He started working harder on his fitness and made his technique more compact. Since then he never looked back and became an integral part of the Indian team.

#3 First double century

Rohit scored a match-winning knock of 209 against Australia

It was a decider match between India and Australia with series leveled at 2-2. Batting first on Chinnaswamy pitch, India got off to a flying start. India lost first the wicket when Dhawan got dismissed by Xavier Doherty, and soon Rohit Sharma was involved in a horrible mix-up with Virat Kohli, that led to the latter’s dismissal.

However, the incident did not let Rohit lapsed his concentration as he smashed the Australian bowling attacks to all parts of the ground with 12 fours and 16 sixes. He became the third batsmen to score a double-century in the ODI format, and as a result, India won the match by 57 runs and clinched the series 3-2.

This double century changed Rohit's career and received the nickname as the Hitman who showed his real prowess to the world. He was also awarded Man of the series for his consistent performance.

#2 Captaincy stint with Mumbai Indians

Rohit was appointed as captain of Mumbai Indians in the latter half of IPL 2013

Rohit was often criticized for throwing his wicket easily in crucial moments. He was highly rated as one of the most talented cricketers around the world, but owing to his inconsistent performance, he could not cement his place in the side.

In IPL 2013, Ricky Ponting was leading the Mumbai Indians side, but after a poor show with the bat, Ponting decided to step down from the side and handed the captaincy to Rohit Sharma. Not only Mumbai performed well under him, but they also won their maiden IPL title in 2013.

Rohit batted with more responsibility and maturity, which was a missing piece in his career. Also, Sunil Gavaskar stated that it leading the IPL outfit has transformed the talented batsman, and made him realize the value of his wicket.

#1 Promotion to the opening slot

Dhoni backed Rohit for the opening slot along with Shikhar Dhawan.

For any player to succeed at the highest level, the backing of the captain is of the utmost importance. It was Dhoni who believed in Rohit's abilities as a batsman and promoted him to the opening slot in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013.

The utter faith Rohit received from his Captain Dhoni, a man who knows a match winner when he sees one, was the biggest turning point in Rohit's career. Till 2012, he scored only 1978 runs in 86 matches at an average of 30.43 with only two centuries.

Since 2013, Rohit's transformation has been phenomenal as opening batsmen. He has scored 4770 runs at a staggering average of 56.11 with 16 tons to his name. Dhoni's move to promote Rohit up the order turned out to be a masterstroke and changed his career forever.