IND vs SA: Rohit Sharma needed 'A lot of Pushing' before accepting India captaincy, reveals Sourav Ganguly

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Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has revealed that Rohit Sharma was reluctant to be the India captain and it needed a lot of 'pushing' from the then BCCI president and the board to make him the leader of the Indian team.

India will take on South Africa in the Final of the T20 World Cup 2024 on Saturday (June 29) and it will be Rohit Sharma who will be leading the team to the third ICC final within a year.

Ganguly heaped praises on Rohit and plauded is revival. Rohit Sharma was part of the Mumbai Indians setup in the IPL 2024 and was just removed from captaincy at the franchise despite leading them to 5 IPL title wins.

"I'm very happy for Rohit Sharma. Life comes full circle. Six months ago, he wasn't even captain of the Mumbai Indians, and now the same man is leading India to a World Cup final, unbeaten. He has played in two World Cup finals where he has gone into the final unbeaten. That speaks of his captaincy and leadership quality, and I'm not surprised," Ganguly said on Friday at an event.

The former BCCI president also revealed that Rohit needed to be persuaded for captaincy as he initially was a bit reluctant to lead the Indian team. The 37-year-old's appointment came after the departure of Virat Kohli from the helm.

"He became captain when I was the BCCI president and when Virat didn't want to captain India anymore. It took a lot of time to make him captain because he was ready, but it took a lot of pushing from all of us to make him captain. I'm very happy to see the progress of Indian cricket under him," Ganguly added.

Rohit will also be desperate to lead the Indian team to a victory after defeats in the last two ICC finals under his captaincy. Rohit Sharma led India in the WTC Final last July and lost to Australia, and the defeat came at the hands of Australia again in the World Cup 2023 Final last November.