Having played under Rohit’s captaincy in school cricket and later for Mumbai as well, Siddhesh was also a part of the Mumbai Indians squad during the IPL 2019 season.
Speaking about Rohit, Siddhesh described him as a ‘Shana’ (street smart) and explained how the youngster he grew up with evolved into one of the finest cricketers in the world.
Recalling their childhood days together, Siddhesh said: “I feel the talent was always there. Whenever my first game for the school I played was under Rohit when I was 10 years old, so we always knew that he was someone special. When we saw him batting in the nets or in the games, but with that he’s worked really hard, you just can’t reach that level with your talent.”
“You need to work really, really hard, and you need to add all those things, which makes you a good, a great cricketer, because if you want to play at the international level, your routines have to be good, and our preparations have to be good, so in all, I’ve got to learn a lot from Rohit since my childhood,” Lad told CricTracker.
Siddhesh also reflected on the fun moments they shared during their school days and how Rohit naturally emerged as a leader even back then.
“He’s always been an inspiration to a lot of us because we’ve also seen Rohit grow as a cricketer. I’ve seen him as a schoolboy and as one of the best in the world as a batsman, so we’ve also spent a lot of time bunking during the school days. After practice, we had that free time when we were allowed to practise for a couple of hours, but we always extended those two hours to three hours, four hours, bunking off school, so he was a leader at that time. But yeah, those were great memories for me. He was a Shana back then, and he’s a Shana now,” Siddhesh said.
Rohit has enjoyed a remarkable journey in international cricket and as captain. Under his leadership, India won two ICC titles – the ICC T20 World Cup in 2024 and the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025.
He also led Mumbai Indians to five IPL titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020, making him one of the most successful captains in IPL history.
In 281 IPL matches, Rohit has scored 7,329 runs at an average of 29.91 and a strike rate of 132.91. He has registered two centuries and 49 half-centuries in the tournament.
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