A mesmerising batsman when on song, Rohit Sharma has also impressed as a captain in the Indian Premier League. Handed the reins of Mumbai Indians mid-way through the 2013 season, he finished it by leading the team to a title win and followed it up with the Champions League T20 trophy later in the year. He took the team into the knock-outs from a precarious position in 2014.

As they set their sights on reclaiming the IPL trophy in 2015, Rohit believes that Ricky Ponting’s inputs will be crucial to team’s fortunes. While speaking about the new additions to MI he hopes that bowling coach Shane Bond can do for the franchise what he has done for New Zealand. The bowling line-up is a more rounded one with the coming in of Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun, who have been consistent performers in India’s domestic circuit in winning titles for Karnataka, and the in-form Josh Hazlewood. And while the captain will take a call on his batting position depending on what the situation demands, he speaks highly of Aaron Finch, who he describes as explosive and will be apt at the Wankhede Stadium.

Rohit, who relishes and cherishes the leadership role goes to great lengthens to lead from the front. The young India star remembers what it is like to be a newcomer in a team of established names and works towards helping the newcomers feel at home as he looks forward to a successful campaign.

Excerpts from the interview:

How are you looking forward to Pepsi IPL 2015?

A successful one! I have had a great two years so I just want to continue what I have been doing and as a team also we want to have a lot of success. Whether it’s Mumbai Indians or as the Indian team, wherever we go and play we want to be successful. The team is good. We have got good young bunch of cricketers. The drive to become a better team is there, so I hope we just continue.

How do you go about getting to know the new players and in such short span?

We don’t have much time to know each other so we have to make full use of whatever time we have. You do that by having a lot of get-together sessions, you get along in the team room, have casual dinners where you get to see everyone and most importantly, you talk. And as a captain it’s my responsibility to go and talk to everyone and make them comfortable. Because the guys who are new in the team, they might just feel uncomfortable, it’s natural. It has happened to me before to a lot of other players as well. So it’s important for a captain to just go and talk and get to know them.

Every person has a character, so it’s important to give them liberty, make them feel at home so that they can express themselves. That’s how you get to know them. Once the person expresses themselves (freely) the people who are watching see the person for who they are and will know them better.

You have spoken about taking initiative as a captain. What does that entail?

With captaincy, a great deal of responsibility has come on my shoulders and I am loving each and every moment of it. It has made me a better player and my decision making has been good over the last couple of years which is what you enjoy. You want to grow as a cricketer. I feel with the captaincy lot of things have come into my game. I have matured as a person and I understand things well. I am glad captaincy has come my way and I have responded well.

What does it mean to have someone like former Australia captain Ricky Ponting as the coach?

He has been amazing. He came into the team in year before last as a captain. He dropped himself and then he took over as a mentor and he took over the team. His presence in the dressing room will be really important. He brings so much experience to the table, of winning World Cups. He knows how to win big tournaments. IPL is a big tournament and his inputs, his thoughts will be really crucial for us.

How has Aaron Finch’s inclusion strengthened MI?

His experience of playing in the IPL and also for Australia, he’s been good. He is one of the key members of the Australian ODI cricket and he has done lot of good for the Australian team, and I feel he is a great addition. He is an explosive player and he loves playing his shots and Wankhede will definitely suit his batting. So that was the idea of getting him. Coming off from such a high now (of winning the ICC Cricket World Cup) the confidence will be with him so we want to make full use of that.

You reckon the bowling attack is stronger with the coming in of Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun and Josh Hazlewood?

We have a great bowling line-up. Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun are seasoned campaigners. And the past two years they have been winning the Ranji Trophy and everything so they are obviously on a high and they know what they are doing. It’s important to know what your strengths and weaknesses are and they know that. I am sure they will bring a lot of things to the table for us when it comes to bowling. They have a lot of experience. They have played in the IPL and played international crickets as well so they know (what needs to be done).
Josh Hazlewood he has been good for Australia this summer and the kind of confidence he has right now will bring a lot of success to us I hope.

What does Shane Bond as bowling coach mean to the team?

Bondy has been with the New Zealand team for the past two years. When he used to play, he was a hardworking cricketer and he used to understand his bowling really well. So his presence on the field with all these young bowlers in our team will be really good, and I am sure they will get plenty to learn from him. And I hope what he did with the New Zealand cricket team in terms of bowling he can do it here as well.

You have been successfully opening the batting for India and have experience of batting in the middle-order as well. Where do you see yourself batting in the IPL?

That needs to be figured out. I am going to sit down and see what the best combination (for the team) is. Whatever I am going to do, I am going to do in the team’s interest. I am going to try and do whatever suits the team. But definitely, (since) I have been opening for the past two years, I would like to continue. We will see. Once we go to Kolkata (for the first match of the season) and see the wicket, we will decide.