For those of us who have followed Rohit Sharma, whether as die hard fans or even remotely so; a thing that stands apart and distinctly so on the part of the man celebrated widely as the Hitman (where it comes to batting), is his candidness. He’s a frank man. A simpleton. Someone who wears cool weathers on his shoulders and someone who is as simple as any that you’d ever find in world cricket. The kind of guy who can hit a perfect sort of knock and save his team from the brink of an ominous result or disaster and at the same time, take a joke on himself. That’s the most important and even impressive part where it comes to Rohit Gurunath Sharma.

And last evening, if you happened to see the live proceedings at Dharamshala whether from your handheld gadget or as a cricket fan in the scintillating stadium, you’d have noted in the post match scenario that the Hitman took a joke upon himself. In fact, better still he cracked a joke on himself.

In a clip that is now famously doing rounds over social media and spreading widely on X and Instagram, the entire Mumbai Indians side is assembled in the green room of the stadia at Dharamshala in the contest’s aftermath. The match has already been won, Tilak Varma playing a blinder of a timely knock just when it most mattered and the famed Mumbai franchise is sporting wide eyed smiles. The unbeaten 77 runs have done their job and the once table toppers in the form of the mighty Punjab Kings have been toppled under Bumrah’s leadership and thanks to Tilak’s great might with the bat.  

And then there’s a certain Rohit Sharma in the dressing room

In a lighter moment shared smilingly among his Mumbai Indians teammates, Sharma states that “there I was playing a test knock!’

And that’s not all! Rohit Sharma went on to add the further -

“It was great to see everyone chipping in the bat. A great team effort while I was playing a Bit of Test Cricket!”

Always so full of candour and light. And always appreciative of the rest who happen to contribute to the team, Rohit further highlighted the big contribution of South African batter Ryan Rickelton, “Rick, an always was great to watch. Because that start was important. It was not an easy pitch but the way you played; I think that start gave us the momentum to take the innings forward!”

While some are perhaps rightly noting the fact that Rohit Sharma actually trolled himself, here’s what stands out! 

At the same time while he is creating a light moment for himself and for his team, he’s also taking a moment to applaud and congratulate some of the other understated names in that famous Mumbai Indians set up such as the belligerent striker of the ball - Ryan Rickelton- whose inning most definitely added the momentum that the chasing side needed to walk over the ropes in the end. However, none of that would have ever been possible without Tilak Varma’s special knock!