Rohit Sharma delivered milk packets to buy cricket kit: Pragyan Ojha recalls emotional chat with India captain

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IPL governing council member Pragyan Ojha has recalled an emotional chat with Rohit Sharma from earlier days in their careers and revealed that the India captain once had to deliver milk packets to afford his cricket kits. The former left-arm spinner has also talked about his first meeting with Rohit.

The 36-year-old has stated that he met the Mumbai Indians (MI) captain in the Under-15 national camp amid murmurs that he was a "very special" player. He added that Rohit did not speak much but was aggressive while batting against him.

"When I first met Rohit in the U-15 national camp, everyone said he was a very special player. There, I played against him and took his wicket. Rohit being a typical Bombay guy, didn’t speak much but was aggressive when he played.

In fact, I was very surprised as to why he was being so aggressive with me when we didn’t know each other! But after that our friendship began to grow,” the left-arm spinner recalled in an interview to Jio Cinema.

“He was from a middle-class family and I remember he once got emotional when we discussed how his budget for cricket kits was restricted. In fact, he also delivered milk packets – of course that was really a long time ago – so that he could buy his kit.

"Now when I see him, I feel very proud of how our journey started and where we reached,” added Ojha.

The two cricketers went on to play for Deccan Chargers (DC) in the inaugural edition of the IPL 2008 and also represented India together in 24 matches.

Rohit, currently the ODI and Test captain of India, recently led India to the final of World Test Championship (WTC). India will clash against Australia in the final at the Oval from June 7.

On Sunday, Rohit, who is just 175 runs away from 10,000 ODI runs, was named in the A category alongside Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah in the BCCI players contract for 2022-23 season.

The 35-year-old will be seen leading 5-time champions Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2023 which starts from March 31.