Mumbai Indians (MI) led by Rohit Sharma is the IPL’s most successful franchise, having won the league a record four times. Mahela Jayawardene, having played an equally important role as their head coach, lavished praise on Rohit’s captaincy.

Apart from his capacity as a batsman, Rohit’s leadership skills got underlined by MI’s success as well as India’s dominant showing in the 2018 Asia Cup, where he led in Virat Kohli’s absence.

“He (Rohit) is an instinctive leader, for sure. But at the same time, Rohit picks up a lot of information and that’s his strength,” Jayawardene said during a chat on the Instagram page of SonySportsIndia.

“Rohit likes to know things. He then utilises them out there in the middle. Everyone thinks he makes those calls instinctively, which is not always the case.”

Elaborating on Rohit’s way of dealing with the captaincy, the former Sri Lanka skipper added: “It can seem a bit odd at times... Sometimes you walk into a team room and find Rohit with the analyst, looking at some of the things.

“He picks up those little snippets from the guys. It’s our job to give him that information because out there in the middle, it’s a tough place to be as a captain.

“It’s not easy, I have done that as well. So as long as you are prepared and you are instinctively making those calls and being pro active, that’s all what you can ask from a captain and Rohit is brilliant in that.”

If India’s tour of Australia does go ahead as per schedule, Rohit’s contribution at the top of the order will be vital in the four Tests too. Jayawardene said that India’s prospects rely a good deal on how well their top-order batsmen fare against the Australian bowlers.