Rohit Sharma's career is a tale of two halves - before and after 2013

Elegance and flamboyance have always been the two adjectives associated with Rohit Sharma's batting ever since he began wielding the bat. He was deemed as the next big thing in Indian cricket due to his innate skills. But the major obstacle in his path to greatness was lack of consistency.

Rohit had a knack of playing a sublime innings and then following it up with a sub-par performance. But over the years his career has undergone a huge transformation.

Today, he is one of the biggest match-winners ODI cricket has ever witnessed. And the process of his resurgence, the way he surmounted the obstacles at each stage of his career, is truly inspirational.

Rohit was a phenomenon in the domestic cricket circuit even before he made his debut for India. His batting prowess amazed the coaches under whom he played junior-level cricket. Even though he endured a lot of financial difficulties when he began cricket training at the tender age of 12, he never let it affect his game.

Rohit steadily rose up the ranks in Mumbai cricket. Subsequently, his impressive performances for the under-17 Mumbai team lead to his selection for the India A and India under 19 teams.

Rohit became the first player to score three consecutive fifties at the 2006 U-19 World Cup. His stellar performances led to his selection into the senior team in 2007 for the World T20.

Rohit made his international debut versus England in the league match of the tournament, but did not get a chance to bat due to the heroics of Yuvraj Singh. He got a chance to bat in the next game against the hosts South Africa and went on to score an impressive 50 in his maiden international innings.

Rohit also played a crucial 30 run knock (off just 16 balls) in the final match against arch-rivals Pakistan. After that successful debut tournament he continued his good form in the subsequent CB series held in Australia.

But his performances started to decline from that point as he struggled for consistency all over the world. A string of low scores resulted in his ouster from the Indian team. He continued his lean run of form till the end of the year 2012.

After his persistent failures in the middle order, MS Dhoni (India's captain at that time) decided to give him one last chance. Rohit was asked to open the batting in the 4th match of the 2012 ODI series against England.

He immediately repaid the faith shown by his skipper, scoring 83 and helping India win that match. Rohit's career resurgence actually began there; since that match, he transformed from an average middle order batsmen into arguably one of the best ODI batsmen of this generation.

His golden run of form commenced during the 2013 Champions Trophy held in England. He started showing signs of consistency for the first time in his international career in the that series, and went on to score his first ODI double century later that year against Australia.

Until that point of time, Indian cricket fans used to criticize and ridicule Rohit for his lack of consistency. But after that innings Rohit's career graph altered drastically, and people's perception of him also started to change gradually.

It was in the same year that he was made the captain of the Mumbai Indians team in the IPL. He led the Mumbai franchise to their maiden title victory in his debut season as skipper. Rohit himself has admitted that captaining Mumbai Indians team changed his approach and helped him mature as a cricketer.

With Rohit at the helm, Mumbai Indians have won the IPL on four different occasions so far. That makes him the most successful captain in the cash-rich league.

Rohit gained a lot of confidence from the home series against Australia in 2013, in which he was the leading run-getter. He went on to add two more double tons later, for an unparalleled record of three double centuries in ODI cricket.

Rohit has a penchant for scoring mammoth hundreds; he holds the record for registering the most number of 150+ scores in ODI cricket history. His nonchalant six hitting ability coupled with his consistency have transformed him into the ODI beast that he is today.

Rohit is currently the vice-captain of the Indian limited overs team. He along with his peers Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan are expected to play a crucial role for Team India in the upcoming World Cup.

From not being able to afford proper coaching in his childhood to becoming one of the top 100 celebrities in India, from being mercilessly ridiculed to becoming a role model, Rohit Sharma has seen it all in his cricketing journey.