Scott Styris remember his first impression of Rohit Sharma: “I could see this kid was something special.”

Former all-rounder Scott Styris of New Zealand shared the story of his first meeting with a teenage Rohit Sharma in the 2008 Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Experienced international cricket player Styris discovered that, when playing for the Deccan Chargers, he shared a changing room with 19-year-old Rohit. Styris stated that he recognised Rohit’s unique qualities from the start.

Since then, Rohit has emerged as one of cricket’s most potent leaders and batsmen, proving that the New Zealander’s assessment was astonishingly correct. In 2011, Rohit moved to the Mumbai Indians following his time with the Deccan Chargers, and that’s where he really started to shine.

Rohit’s reputation as a strategically brilliant leader was cemented when the Mumbai Indians won a record five IPL titles while he was captain. Rohit and Styris recently interacted while Styris was providing commentary for the India-Sri Lanka series in Sri Lanka.

It was my first time as a colleague to watch (and hear about) Rohit Sharma during the 2008 Indian Premier League. He was at the Deccan Chargers with us. Even at the age of 19 or 20, I could tell right away that this young man was unique. Styris told cricket.com, “I recently returned from Sri Lanka, where I covered India vs. Sri Lanka. I hooked up with him there, and he’s still the same guy that he was 16 years ago.

Rohit has led the Indian national team in both ODI and Test forms, demonstrating that his success extends beyond the IPL. An era has come to an end with his recent decision to retire from Twenty20 International cricket after captaining India in the Twenty20 World Cup 2024.

We were the early favourites to win the IPL in that first year: Scott Styris

The 49-year-old also discussed the original Deccan Chargers team during this time. He said in the 2008 edition that although they had the strongest team on paper, they were unbalanced. According to him, the squad lost the competition because they couldn’t decide which players to include in the starting XI, and as a result, they placed last.

“We were the favourites to win it the first year, and we finished last. We didn’t have a wonderful balance, which contributed in part to that. Although our names seemed impressive on paper, you can only have four foreign players in your lineup. Either way, the bowling would be poor and the batting would be heavy, or the opposite would occur.

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We were a little bit bits and pieces, not quite strong enough in any of them, and we ended up coming last when we tried to load it up with all-rounders,” he said.