Rohit Sharma's relaxed on-field attitude is often misunderstood by people as lack of hardwork: Irfan Pathan

Rohit Sharma is widely regarded as one of the best batsmen of the modern era. While his Test success is still a matter of debate, no individual can deny the fact that Rohit has established himself as a prolific top-order stalwart in the limited-overs format.

Rohit paved his way to the Indian team in 2007. Known for his impeccable timing and fiery batting, Rohit’s career sky-rocketed after he donned the opener’s hat in international cricket. Rohit has come a long way since making his international debut and his one of the peculiar things about him is his ‘relaxed’ on-field attitude.

Despite wreaking havoc on bowlers with his willow, Rohit is often scrutinized for his effortless and carefree attitude while being on the field. Even when he’s on song on the 22-yard-strip, his body language still remains relaxed. Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan pointed out Rohit’s trait and revealed how his relaxed approach is often misunderstood in the cricketing fraternity.

Rohit always used to talk about working hard: Irfan Pathan

“Lot of people are mistaken when they see a guy who has a lot of time and he is slightly more relaxed than compared to Rohit. Then you say he needs to work hard! Same things were said about Wasim Jaffer, when you look at his aura, when he used to run he used to run very relaxed, when he used to bat he had lot of time and we used to think – why isn’t he working hard – but actually, he was working really hard.

Similarly with Rohit, from outside we used to think he might need to work more harder, he might need to put more application,” said Irfan on Star Sports’ show Cricket Connected.

Irfan also highlighted Rohit’s strong mindset while recalling how the opener paved his way back after missing out on playing the 2011 World Cup. According to Irfan, Rohit always used to talk about working hard and that reflects through his record with Mumbai Indians. Rohit is the most successful skipper in the IPL, having led the Mumbai franchise to four titles.

“Whenever you talk to Rohit Sharma, he used to always talk about sensible things, he used to always talk about working hard and he used to always talk about the team first as well, that is why you see some of the results he got at the captain of the Mumbai Indians team. He got the beating of not playing the World Cup and then came back really hard because of a strong mindset after 2012,” he added.