Rohit Sharma is perhaps the most evolved Indian batsman. For someone who started his career as a promising kid with lots of talent, who played some stellar knocks in Australia to win the ODI series back in 2008, who was drafted into Indian Test team and thereafter, who lost his way immeasurably, the sort of turnaround he has effected into becoming the captain of India, he has come a longway. This is a tribute to Rohit Sharma.
Rohit Sharma, the lazy elegance, the player with supreme touch and the ball races to the boundary. The bowler is not offended at all because he never felt the impact. Instead, he is also in awe looking at that shot. The murderous pull of anything pitched short is also treated by the bowler as something that is expected on the cricket field and he never responds with the same ferocity as is normal. Such is the impact of the shots that Rohit Sharma plays.
A brief look at his initial years
In the earlier days, it was really tough for Rohit to get into a team that consisted of Rahul, Laxman, Ganguly & Tendulkar. Even the opening slot wasn’t available. Despite this, he still got some chances but he failed to make use of any. If only he had scored, he could have easily replaced a Laxman or a Ganguly.
Eventually, doubts were raised about his ability to deal with test cricket. He was thought to be not fit for test cricket. Heck, he even had multiple forgettable time in limited overs. All of that changed when he began to open the innings in ODIs. Couple of good outings and he had never looked lost since then. The fabulous 2019 World Cup was the peak of his achievement as an opener with 5 hundreds. Eventually, he opened in test cricket too after Vijay, Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw and a few others were deemed unfit for test opening.
Rohit the opener
Rohit had a great series against South Africa at home but his real test was in Australia and in England. He didn’t travel with the original team to Australia citing injury though he turned out for Mumbai Indians. Even I casted aspersions on his will to survive in test cricket. I had written that Rohit is afraid to travelling to Australia because he fears failure. He fears losing his test spot once and for all. He proved me wrong and though Rohit wasn’t a grand success in Australia, he did contribute meaningful runs.
Inbetween Australia and England, Rohit played a gem of a knock against England on a turning pitch. It was the decisive innings of the series. England having won the first test, never recovered after that innings.
Rohit has become so efficient at opening that nowadays it is always who will partner Rohit. He has certainly grown in stature. He proved his credentials in all the 3 tests in England so far. Having started with 3 successive scores in the 30s he got out everytime just when he was looking too comfortable. Alas, that was to change at Lord’s when he was the chief aggressor against an England side that was confident after Anderson returned one more five-fer. The 80odd is easily the best innings Rohit has played in his short test career. He saw Rahul virtually score-less at the other end and took it upon himself to score the runs. At one stage, he outscored Rahul 5-1. Such was his domination. No one would have grudged a hundred for Rohit but it wasn’t to be.
Having seen his prowess as an opener, it is only a matter of time before he starts to score heavily even in the SENA countries.
The outspoken Rohit Sharma
At the end of the 4th Test against England, Rohit Sharma was at his fiery best. He said all the right things to say in the press meet. It was so heartening to see the national team’s captain say such things. The youngsters are more and more influenced by money and they opt for the shortest version. They prepare themselves to excel in that format alone. This is not enough. More needs to be done but atleast, the captain is voicing his concern about some of the youngsters. By the way, India have won the series against England after much anxiety. Overall, well said Rohit Sharma.
What did Rohit say?
After the game ended, Rohit answered quite a few questions rather frankly. It is refreshing to hear an Indian captain being so open about playing Test cricket and it is also heartening to note the importance the current lot gives to Test cricket. A few days ago, the BCCI secretary, Jay Shah, warned players who did not play for their respective states in the ongoing Ranji Trophy that they would stand to lose the central contract. Some like Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan choose to ignore that warning. They did not play for their state teams in the final round of the Ranji games.
First, the audacity of these players, both of whom played for India recently, is disturbing and second, the power an IPL contract gives to each player is scary. Here are a couple of players who had hardly played a handful of games for the nation going against the diktat issued by the secretary of the most powerful cricketing body in the world. At this moment, it is not clear whether the contracts of these players and a few others will be terminated but it does not matter to them because their IPL worth is much higher.
Rohit was point blank
“This [Test cricket] is the toughest format,” Rohit said after India won the fourth Test against England in Ranchi to take an unassailable 3-1 lead. “And if you want success and want to excel in this tough format then you need that hunger. It is very important. We will give opportunity only to players who have that hunger. You come to know [easily] the players who don’t have that hunger, [or] players who don’t want to stay here [and play this format]. We come to know that.
“Players who have that hunger, players who want to stay here and perform, [and] play in tough conditions, we will give preference to them. Obviously, it is pretty simple: if you don’t have hunger, there’s no meaning playing such players.”
These words were directed at Kishan, Shreyas and perhaps even Hardik Pandya. Ever since the South African tour, from which Kishan asked for a break, he has not been involved in any competitive cricket. He was asked by the team management to play in domestic games to be eligible for the national team. However, he choose to skip Ranji Trophy. Evidently, to prepare and keep himself fit for Ranji Trophy. There was also a murmur of Shreyas’s insubordination. These are serious attitude issues. The IPL contracts are so much worth that the upcoming players do not want to play for India. Rishabh Pant has on record said that his only intention was to play T20 cricket and nothing else. However, success in the longest form seems to have straightened his priority.