THE SLOW TRAIN FROM BORIVALI HAS ARRIVED AT IS DESTINATION...ROHIT SHARMA'S INCREDIBLE JOURNEY

The year was 2006. The train arrived on time and a young Rohit Sharma boarded. The Under-19 World Cup happened.

2007 came next. The train caught pace and a 20-year-old Rohit played a vital role in India winning the first ever T20 World Cup.

Then came the halt. The train just stopped. Wouldn´t move.

It came to a point when Rohit began to wonder if it was worth waiting inside that train anymore. He lost his place in the team, and eventually a spot in the 2011 World Cup squad.

It did begin to seem at some point back then that the train from Borivali wouldn’t travel all the way.

It was time to change tracks. Today’s a good day to write about that change.

We’re talking about a boy who almost didn’t turn up for his Under-17 trial. Reason – he either didn’t know or simply forgot. You can imagine Rohit saying: “Arre yaar, main bhool gaya…[Just forgot]."

Former India batter Pravin Amre was the chairman of the Under-17 selection committee. He asked Rohit to come and report to one of the teams. Rohit didn’t score. Didn’t look interested either.

He hates it when you tell him how he’s ‘such a naturally gifted cricketer’. He’ll cringe. But if you do track his life story, there’s no other reason you’d want to believe for his success.

When Rohit was just 11, 25 years younger, and lived in Dombivli with his parents, life wasn’t really about getting things on a platter. Home finances weren’t healthy and his parents had to send him away to Mumbai's western suburb (Borivali) to live with his uncle and aunt.

In a city where the idea of ‘success’ is eerily based on the logic of which railway line you travel, Rohit’ journey from the central line to the western had been relatively quick. For scores of Mumbaikars, this can be a lifetime journey.

The young boy gradually started with his cricket like any other youngster in the city.

It was a summer vacation tournament where Rohit was playing for a team against a local school SVIS, of which Dinesh Lad was the head coach.

After the match, Lad went to opposition’s dressing room and said he wanted to meet the ‘off-spinner’. "Kya naam hai [name]?" "Rohit Sharma." "Kidhar rehta hai [address]?" "Baju [nearby]." "Mummy-daddy?" "Dombivli mein [in Dombivli]."

Lad asked Rohit to bring his uncle to meet him.

Lad wanted Rohit to change his school and come to where he coached. School fees were around Rs 275 per month and they couldn’t afford it. School offered ‘freeship’ (offered to outstanding sportspersons whose school fees is waived). They liked the cricketer.

That ground in Borivali means a lot to him. In 2015, when he wanted to propose to Ritika, his girlfriend back then, he did not fly her away to a fancy island or Taj Mahal.

He picked her up from Mumbai's Cuffe Parade and drove her at midnight to Borivali Sports Club.

He walked with her to pitch, went on a knee and put a rock on the finger. It had to be Borivali, nowhere else.

When you hear people say ‘Rohit waisa hi hai, badla hai [he’s the same, he never changed]', this is the Rohit they talk about.

Cricket-wise, a lot changed.

For instance, that Under-17 selection trial. As much as Rohit looked disinterested, the great Vasu Paranjape watched him bat and insisted the boy must be picked in the 'Playing Eleven'. When ‘Vasu sir’ said something, even a Dilip Vengsarkar would listen.

Rohit was in. First match, hundred. He tonked the ball all over Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium.

Didn’t take long for Vengsarkar to realise this talent either. The next thing Rohit knew, he was picked for the Mumbai squad ahead of the Irani Cup.

The only hassle, Rohit ‘forgot’ to turn up for practice. When he eventually did, he did not carry his kit.

Too many things began happening.

Eventually, over the course of next few years, Rohit would be playing his first match for India, participating in a T20 WC title win and then facing the worst setback of his career – missing the 2011 WC.

Rohit has admitted how marriage changed him for the better. He hasn't spoken much though how badly the World Cup miss hurts him.

It is in this context that Rohit leading India in the 2023 50-over World Cup and the 2024 T20 World Cup assumes absolute importance.

Three ODI double-tons, five Indian Premier League titles for Mumbai Indians, in top-five of all ICC rankings, a T20 World Cup right at the start of his career – more than he knew what was already in the bag, he knew what was missing.

The path was set. The train had stopped midway but once he changed tracks, he was all set to catch the ‘fast local’.

It’s been a great deal of hard work. Ask Abhishek Nayar – his Mumbai teammate.

Rohit watched the 2011 World Cup final from the stands at Wankhede. He was devastated in the months leading to the WC when he realised he was out of reckoning. The first man he dialed was Nayar. There was work to be done.

A lot of work, starting right then.

Sharma 2.0

That was the beginning of Sharma 2.0 in the making – a talented batsman until then, who would go on to become a batting giant over the next three years and further. Rohit and Nayar sat together and drew the blueprint.

Focus and discipline became the keywords.

Remember, this was the big-bad world of cut-throat competition and for each slot in the Indian team, there were at least two other players in the reckoning.

It wasn’t ‘Borivali’ anymore where a Lad would be around and push him to make things happen. The onus was on him alone.

After the final at Wankhede, he went to the dressing room.

Coach Gary Kirsten saw him and said “Wow, you look different”.

A few individuals would be exiting the team. Captain MSD was making up his mind too and soon people would say hello to India’s new white-ball opener.

It is to Rohit’s credit alone that he’s never looked back since. And he’s always stuck around with people who stuck around with him.

There’s an interesting story here that tells us this side of Rohit.

When living in Borivali, he’d often come home late.

His aunt had given strict orders – no ringing the doorbell after 11pm.

Often, Rohit would be left with no choice but to sleep in the room of a young boy called Vicky who was the society’s general help and security-man. Vicky was always kind to Rohit.

A friend tells me how Vicky would in fact sleep on the floor & ask Rohit – tired after his cricket – to take the bed.

Years later, when Rohit moved to his penthouse, he took Vicky along. His friends know what they’re saying when they insist “Rohit is a keeper.”

On the field or off it, he’s still the same. I asked his teammates what’s the ‘coolest’ thing about this guy’s captaincy. They all had many things to say but this was a common line – You can go and talk to him. Whatever it is. And he’ll listen.

So, a keeper & a listener. Ritika did find a goldmine, didn’t she?

In 2023, he came closest but the team missed out at the last hurdle. The anger of losing to Australia in that final can be gauged in the 92 he hit against the same opposition in this T20 World Cup’s Round of 16. The smashing showed aggression and intent.

And eventually, 15-odd years after the train had halted somewhere midway in its journey, he made an effort to jump tracks and move ahead.

On Saturday, he reached his destination. From here, when Rohit looks back at where he was coming from, he should feel proud knowing that he took the path less travelled.