File photo of India captain Rohit Sharma© AFP
Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma has a reputation of being a calm and composed person with stories of his forgetfulness being quite popular. However, Indian umpire Anil Chaudhary said that Rohit is not 'casual' at all and he even went on to say that he is extremely smart. During an interaction on the YouTube podcast show 'Unplugged', Chaudhary, who has officiated in over 50 international matches, said that people have a somewhat wrong impression of Rohit as he is a very smart cricketer and added that fans and experts "should not get fooled" in doubting his game sense.
“Rohit aapko lagta casual hai par bahot smart player hai. Iss chakkar mein na padna aap. He is very smart. Cricketing IQ bahut achha hai uska, means game ki samajh (Rohit may seem casual, but he's a very smart player, don't get fooled thinking otherwise; his game sense is very good),” he said.
“Uski Batting se idea nahi aata aapko. Jab wo batting karta hai to lagta hai 120 (kmph) pe bowling ho rahi hai. Jab dusra batting karta hai to lagta hai 160 pe bowling ho rahi hai....Wo bahut saari appealon mein aa jata hai aur kehta hai 'abey rehne de'. Woh lagta casual hai par casual bilkul nahi hai woh (you can't guess his sharp mind from his batting. When he's batting, it seems someone is bowling at 120 kmph, but when someone else is batting, the speed seems like 160 kmph. He gets involved in a lot of appeals and then says 'let it be.' He may seem casual, but he's not casual at all).”
He also went on to say that umpiring is quite easy against a player like Rohit as he does not play 'confusingly' and when it comes to his dismissals, they are mostly 'straightforward'.
“Rohit jaise player ke liye umpiring karna bada easy hai. Ya to out hota hai ya to not out hota hai. Seedha seedha kaam hai uska. Guchur guchur khelta hi nahi hai wo. Woh out hai ya not out hai. Aise player ko umpiring karna bahot easy hai. Usko dekhna aap, ya to woh saaf out hoga ya saaf not out hoga (umpiring for a player like Rohit is very easy; he's either out or not out, it's straightforward with him. He doesn't play confusingly),” he added.