ROHIT SHARMA

If not for destiny's design, Rohit Sharma could well have been one of those precious talents that slip through the nets. As Sharma bent on his drives at Kingsmead and smote the ball a furlong over mid-wicket, his ecstatic coach Dinesh Lad couldn't but travel down the memory lane.Lad recalls his infatuation with an 11-year-old Rohit during a chance encounter at a summer camp. "He was bowling gentle off-spinners with quite an impressive action," he recounts.Something snapped within Lad and he asked Sharma to switch from Borivali's Our Lady of Valankini School to Gorai's Swami Vivekananda International School so that his skills could gain roots at an early age. It was here that Sharma revealed another side to this game: he could bat a bit."I convinced our director Yogesh Patel that my boy should be granted a free-ship in sports," Lad says. "Rohit belonged to a modest background. The game he so loves could have exacted a great toll on him financially."A year later Sharma requited his master's affection by scoring a flawless hundred in his first appearance in the Giles Shield, and followed it with two centuries in the Harris Shield and one in the Khichadia tournament.In a sense, Rohit's exploits in the EurAsia tournament and later in the Under-19 World Cup were a natural culmination of his early initiation to domestic cricket."After starting off at number eight in his first year he staked his claim at four through sheer weight of runs. If you ask me, that is where he should be batting for Mumbai," Lad asserts.Who knows, Pravin Amre, who coaches Sharma's state team (Mumbai), must have already mulled over the idea. Trust Amre when he swears that it isn't easy at Durban; this is the ground where he made his debut in 1992-93, scoring a defeat-defying 103.Amre beams at Sharma's knock: "For someone so young, he assessed the situation smartly. India had lost early wickets and South Africa were hitting the deck hard. He played himself in, took his time, before going for the shots. This is what he did all throughout the last domestic season. It was he who heralded the turnaround for Mumbai."Both the coaches didn't miss mention of Sharma's throw-on-the-gather spectacle that ran out Justine Kemp. Fielding is naturally ingrained in Rohit. Even during his school days he would never take it casualleLad almost brought himself to believe that another tournament would go by without Sharma getting a look in. He reveals, "Rohit called me two days ago, upset that he wasn't getting a game. I told him he would play for India the next ten years. At least he is part of the Indian team and that is reason enough to celebrate. Good times come to those who are prepared to wait."He re-lives Rohit's parting lines: "Don't miss a single ball should I get to bat." How could he? Lad, in fact, has already put ink to what he observed in those 40 balls.