India is a cricket crazy nation. The nation treats their cricketers as gods, a result of which there are a lot of blokes who've gone on to become slightly self-centred. The obsession with stars and their records is so high in the nation that they celebrate every individual milestone with pride, instead of celebrating the team's success and achievements. And hence one sees our superstars to have most number of records coming for a losing cause. In a country where most players are self-centred, only handful of the players like Rahul Dravid, Mohinder Amarnath, Kapil Dev, Gautam Gambhir are selfless. And amidst all these old generation of cricketers, stands a selfless team man from new generation who currently leads the nation with pride.

Rohit Sharma, who is one of the finest batters of India, is epitome of selflessness in a generation where the players like to be in limelight through smallest of the actions. He is a different breed of cricketers who is well equipped to fact the new generation of bowlers, while himself having those old school morals and values. He always keeps his team as a priority. He has immense potential to smash many more records going ahead. But what stops him is his nature of putting the team's interest before any other interest. And it reflects in the way he bats, he plays and he leads. A certainly undervalued player in respect to the contribution he has for the nation, he still isn't bothered about it, because he is truly a team man. And that makes him the most special person.

And on numerous occasions, this special person has helped Indian team fetch glory which has gone unnoticed. It started with the very first time he ever took a bat in his hand at the international level. The hype of 19 year old talented player was proved right, when a young Rohit scored a fifty right on his batting debut in just 40 deliveries against South Africa in a must win game of 2007 T20 World Cup. His effortless batting became the talk of the town and his clean hitting became his trademark. He continued to do so in the high voltage India Pakistan final, when his 16 ball 30 proved to be the differentiating factor between victory and a defeat. His cameo was crucial and lighting fast against a good Pak bowling in the death overs. The world cup was ours, and Yuvraj, Gambhir, Irfan, Dhoni received applause for their part, but Rohit didn't receive much of it.

He was labelled as a talented player, and all his hardwork to polish and hone his skills were often overshadowed by the word "talented". Not many people took him seriously until God of cricket named Rohit and Virat as his successors in the ceremony for celebrating his 100 centuries in 2012. That's when the world took the notice of him again. Most people had already forgotten his heroics in the IPL playing for Deccan Chargers. The guy from Mumbai had a hat-trick, a century and an IPL trophy while playing for Deccan. And he was the only player(which he still is) to have chased down 20+ runs in the last over twice. And in spite of all this, he wasn't respected enough of what he deserved.

But it was only because of his selflessness and extreme hardwork that he still continued to grind hard. And it yielded results as he got back in the Indian side as well as was picked for Mumbai Indians in 2013. And then onwards, his journey went upwards and higher. He played for the team's cause for both the national as well as the IPL team, and it massively helped them. One can only imagine the potential he had when he was given captaincy of a team consisting of Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar. And if history of IPL is to be checked, it is only the selfless captains who have won the IPL trophies, and not the players with tremendous individual records.

Also, selfless players make a great captain. It reflects in the way the juniors and seniors treat him and the way he treats them. The change in the atmosphere of the dressing room of how it was couple of years ago and how is it now is evident. It also shows when around 3 years ago, the same Ravichandran Ashwin who termed that team was no more a team, now gladly refers to Rohit Sharma as "my captain" and team man even when they meet while paying for different teams in the IPL. He cares for the players like they are his own siblings and he celebrates their achievements like his own. One therefore saw him scolding Sarfaraz Khan for not wearing a helmet while fielding at silly point, and one saw him applaud Jurel, Sarfaraz, Jaiswal, Kishan and Gill when they played well.

All of these qualities clearly prove why he is different from others. And his ability to play for the team was significantly evident from the way he played in the 2023 World Cup. Normally he plays cautiously in the beginning and then once he has his eye in, he smashes the bowlers. On the contrary to his usual behaviour, he attacked all the teams right from the moment go. His quickfire knock specifically against South Africa put the best team of this world cup on backfoot. And on no single occasion he slowed down knowing that he is close to his personal half century. He was the lone batter to bat with the right intent against Australia in the finals, when all the other failed. He could've waited for his half century in the finals, which is a big deal, but he didn't. And eventually, the team lost the world cup as none of the other guys played even 10% selfless cricket to what he did.

That's a big disadvantage of selflessness. When you don't care about yourself, and care for the team more, you are at the receiving end of bad luck. Unfortunately the same happened to the guy in the world cup, and post it as well. Deprived of credit and respect for most of his life, he was blamed for World Cup loss, when he was the lone warrior in the finals. And then, just within a week post the world cup, with the wounds of final still haunting the nation, he got to know that he is sacked as the Mumbai Indians skipper. Hardik Pandya was chosen over the most successful captain of the IPL history in terms of win percentage in the finals. His selflessness cost him his prestigious position of the franchise, which he took to newer heights. One can only imagine the pain which he felt on that occasion. But a player like him who puts his team ahead, was certainly going to do what he did earlier.

And he did the same. He forgot all what happened, and he continued to play. Even today he does the same. And his energy levels for the team haven't gone down one bit. He was humiliated by Pandya by sending him to field on long on boundary. One could see that Rohit was trying to help Hardik, but when he didn't receive the respect he should've, then he was a little disappointed. But disappointment on a personal level never came in his way to contribute for his team. Even in this IPL, he contributed with almost every match. His 20 ball 40 didn't help him reach the milestone, but it helped his team get the start they wanted. And on one occasion where he reached to his splendid hundred, when others could've raised their bat and celebrated highly, he didn't even raise his bat as his team was losing the match. And he could do all of it, because he is truly selfless.

Which is why, he is respected by everyone. All the former cricketers like Gambhir, Pathan, Manjrekar, Gavaskar who have criticized many other players, always speak highly about Rohit Sharma. It is because someone who has played at the level can sense a player who plays for the team. And Hitman is certainly that player. In spite of all the records he has, he never considers himself bigger than the game. He is never self obsessed. He never does anything in front of the camera to get attention and stay relevant on social media. He never speaks ill about critics who have at times spoken about Rohit. Sharma is not a two faced person, he has the same words on his tongue which he has in his mind. There are some players who have records, there are some who are selfless and there are some who are great as a human being. But Rohit Sharma is the only player who has all the three together. And that's what makes him different from others. He truly is the epitome of selflessness. We are blessed to have him on our side. Because he is once in a lifetime person, and no one else can be like him. On his 37th birthday, we wish him a very happy birthday and we pray to God that all his dreams turn into a reality.