Two years ago, when Ricky Ponting dropped himself from the team and passed over the captaincy mantle to Rohit Sharma, he had emerged as the lucky charm of the Mumbai Indians. Come 2015, and Rohit Sharma has emerged as the Mr. Dependable of Mumbai Indians. Not only with the willow but, also as the leader.

When Rohit led Mumbai Indians to their maiden IPL title in 2013, he wasn’t given due credit since he had been surrounded by the great minds in the game like Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, John Wright and Harbhajan Singh. In fact, he was among the first to admit that with the presence of a galaxy of stars, he only had to manage the troupes after entering the field.

Over the last two years, however, Rohit has displayed that he is one of the most reliable captains. In fact, he seems to have ticked most boxes required to be an extraordinary leader. A good captain must be optimistic, he must lead by example, he must keep the flock together, and he has to be instinctive. No wonder then Rohit’s success rate of 60.46 percent (26 wins off 43) as captain in IPL, is only next to Mahendra Singh Dhoni; among those who have led in at least 10 IPL games.

Rohit’s optimism has reflected in the team’s never-say-die-attitude that has come to the fore in each of the last three editions; especially in the 2014 and 2015 IPL tournaments when MI have staged a miraculous comeback after starting on a poor note. Not once did the team appear to have drooped its shoulders, with Rohit looking at his confident best on the field.

“This just shows the character of the Mumbai Indians. We have created an atmosphere inside the dressing room that no matter what situations we are in, we never have to put our head down. We just wanted to prove to ourselves that we are much better than the results. We did exactly that, and look at us now, in the top two in the table at the end of the league stage,” Rohit told iplt20.com.

“As a captain, as a leader it is very important for me to remain positive no matter what happens on the field. The message was clear – whatever had happened had happened, and you couldn’t change it, and the best way to come out of it was to prepare for the following games. I wanted to lead from the front.”

Not just when it comes to displaying the best body language, but Rohit has been leading from the front even with the bat. While he has been closing down on Tendulkar’s mark of 2332, the highest aggregate by a MI batsman in IPL, Rohit has been a heavy-scorer in the last three editions. It shows that instead of being bogged down by the pressure, captaincy has made him a more responsible and a successful captain.

The presence of such great names in the Mumbai Indians team, also results in a danger of being a huge gap between the experienced and the youngsters. However, Rohit has played a perfect bridge and has ensured that the team stays together, as a unit.

Being instinctive is one of the most vital requisites of being a good leader. And Rohit has displayed his reading of the game, which results in spontaneous decisions. For instance, his decision to ask Kieron Pollard to bowl the last over against Kolkata Knight Riders in a crunch game. Pollard hadn’t bowled at all in the game till then, but Rohit was confident the burly all-rounder could deliver the goods. Such moves can only be made by great captains.

The fact that Rohit has led Mumbai Indians in their second final in three years just underlines that Mumbai Indians have unearthed their leader for a long time to come. If he lifts the trophy on Sunday, perhaps he will also make the national selectors think a little bit more while discussing the leadership issue in future.