Rohit Sharma offered to share his own prize money with underpaid support staff
Although many people praised Dravid for his unselfish deed, Rohit's gesture should also not be disregarded.
Once again displaying his extraordinary ethics, departing coach Rahul Dravid declined a 2.5 crore bonus in favor of sharing the same prize money as the other support staff members. But did you know that, prior to Dravid, the kind offer made by India captain Rohit Sharma made sure that the underappreciated support workers wouldn’t be let down? The 125 crore prize money announced for the Indian squad for winning the T20 World Cup was supposed to go to coach Dravid and captain Rohit, each of them, for 5 crore. Although many people praised Dravid for his unselfish deed, Rohit’s gesture should also not be disregarded.
A few questions were raised on July 1st with the prize money announcement. According to the original arrangement, the 125 crore was supposed to be split amongst players, coaches, and reserve players; however, certain support staff members were going to get a lot less. These individuals included analysts, physiotherapists, masseuses, throwdown specialists, and others.
Rohit Sharma Advocates for Equal Pay for Support Staff
At that point, Rohit took the initiative and asked for their salaries to be equal. According to a Dainik Jagran article, during the player’s conversation with the daily on the chartered flight returning from Barbados to India, Rohit expressed his willingness to part with some of his personal wealth in order to guarantee that all players received substantial and equitable compensation.
After all, if Dravid’s gesture meant that fielding coach T Dilip, bowling coach Paras Mhambrey, and batting coach Vikram Rathour would receive ₹2.5 lakh each, then Rohit’s actions contributed to the other support staff members receiving ₹2 million apiece. Even though Rohit did not specifically name a teammate for whom he was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, the player disclosed that these are indications of a great leader who considers all those who contribute to the team’s accomplishment. The BCCI finally agreed to give ₹2 crore apiece to analysts, physiotherapists, strength and conditioning trainers, and others in response to Rohit’s unwavering position.
Because to his kind offer, Rohit has become one of the most well-liked and esteemed leaders in Indian cricket history. If you ask the younger members of Team India, they will always talk well of Rohit and have nothing but praise for him. While there have been many talented captains in Indian cricket history, such as Kapil Dev, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni, and Virat Kohli, Rohit is incredibly uncommon and exceptional. For children, he is the older brother they can rely on.
Famous sportscaster Jatin Sapru confirmed this view in a conversation on the BeerBiceps YouTube channel, saying that the young players that play under Rohit are his brothers on the squad. Whenever he interacts with someone, Rohit makes sure he connects well, be it Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel, or someone else. He would chastise the younger generation based on the equation, but he would also take them under his wing to make sure they could achieve their full potential.
“Rohit has humanised stardom. He is like that older brother who says, ‘I will give you an earful… in front of everyone, but I will hug you and love you too’. His vibe is different. Rohit’s bro in the cricketing world are the young guys. When Rohit was a youngster and came in around 2007, it’s possible that he didn’t get that kind of support because at that time, Indian cricket was going through a lot. So somewhere Rohit feels in his heart that all the youngsters that have come, he has to be responsible for them and handle them well,” Sapru said.
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