5 Indian coaches and their most famous proteges

#5 Duncan Fletcher and Rohit Sharma (2011-2015)

Rohit’s ODI career saw a change in fortunes since the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy

Although the world had seen glimpses of the young Rohit Sharma during the ICC World T20 2007, he bloomed to his full potential post-2012, especially after he was allotted the opener’s slot for the first time in 2013. The ICC Champions Trophy held in England the same year saw Rohit give India solid opening stands along with the newly-discovered left-handed mauler, Shikhar Dhawan, and it was only the beginning of a dream run that was about to unfold for the Mumbai cricketer. The man behind such a tactical move, in popular opinion, was the then Indian coach, and the man who succeeded Kirsten after the 2011 World Cup victory, Duncan Fletcher.

Two double hundreds in ODI cricket – one in 2013 against Australia (209), and the other, which is the record highest individual score in ODI cricket (264), against Sri Lanka – came during Fletcher’s tenure which clearly indicated that the shift from the middle order to the top of the order had worked wonders for the right-handed batsman. The Mumbaikar’s opening partnerships with Dhawan laid the foundations for many Indian victories, especially on home soil, and both them have solidified themselves at the top of the Indian batting order in limited-overs cricket. Rohit’s performances in the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2015 were also noteworthy, wherein he scored a match-winning century against Bangladesh in the quarter-final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.