3 challenges for Rohit Sharma as Team India’s ODI captain
The selectors, on Wednesday, named senior opener Rohit Sharma as Team India’s new ODI captain. The decision was announced when the team for the three-match Test series in South Africa was named.
Apart from being chosen as the new ODI captain, Rohit was also named vice-captain of the 18-member Indian Test squad. While Ajinkya Rahane has kept his place as a batter in the team, he has been left out of the leadership group.
Rohit replaces Virat Kohli as Team India’s ODI skipper. The former had already been named as T20I captain after Kohli stepped down from the post following the conclusion of the T20 World Cup. Rohit even led India to a 3-0 victory over New Zealand in the three-match series at home in his first assignment as T20I captain.
Rohit Sharma as Team India’s ODI captain: The task ahead
With Rohit being named as Team India’s new captain for the ODIs, we take a look at three challenging tasks that await him.
#3 Finding the right mix of youth and experience
This aspect is a challenge every captain faces, especially in limited-overs formats, where fitness and agility are as important as form and experience. If we look at the current ODI set-up, India have opener Shikhar Dhawan, who is already 36, but has been performing exceedingly well in the ODI format. Rohit himself is 34, while Kohli turned 33 last month.
While all of them deserve their place in the ODI set-up, Rohit and the team management should be open to change in case of non-performances. The same applies to youngsters as well. They cannot drag on things like the Test think tank has done with Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane in rather embarrassing fashion. The confusion regarding the latter, in particular, has become apparent with him being retained as a batter for the South Africa Tests, but being sacked as vice-captain.
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India have a decent number of promising youngsters in both the batting and bowling departments - from Ruturaj Gaikwad to Shreyas Iyer and Rahul Chahar and Chetan Sakariya. They can be given a go in case the ones chosen ahead of them fail to deliver.
Team India suffered in the T20 World Cup because they preferred reputation over all other aspects. Hopefully, they have learnt some harsh lessons from the disappointments in the UAE.
#2 Getting the best out of Virat Kohli as batter
This will be something that a lot of critics will be eagerly observing. While Kohli stepped down from the post of T20I captain, he has been removed as ODI leader. Kohli had stated while resigning as T20I captain that he would like to carry on as ODI and Test skipper. While Kohli remains the captain in the longer format, he will now have to play under Rohit in ODIs.
On paper, that is not a big deal. MS Dhoni did the same and guided Kohli and other youngsters like Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav admirably as a senior member of the side. Kohli will be expected to do the same. But the challenge for him will be to spur himself on without the responsibility of captaincy.
Kohli is someone who relished the challenge of leading from the front in ODIs, which is why he won so many games for India. The responsibility of captaining the team in ODIs, a format which he has mastered, clearly gave him an extra fillip. Rohit will need to ensure that his former ODI captain not only remains a key member of the leadership plans, but is as inspired as before to give it his best.
#1 Zeroing in on the best team combination before 2023 World Cup
This will be the biggest challenge for Rohit as ODI captain. India need to know their team for the 2023 World Cup at least a few months ahead of the ICC event. That’s not all, they even need to have adequate back-ups in place, factoring in injury and fitness issues.
India paid a big price for not being sure about their batting combination for the 2019 World Cup till the very end. Their unpreparedness cost them in the semi-finals against New Zealand, whose methodical bowling smartly dismantled India’s batting.
Characters in India's middle-order slots were changed as if it were a game of musical chairs. Just ahead of the 2019 World Cup, Kohli announced that Ambati Rayudu had booked the no.4 spot for the the ICC event. However, when the squad was announced, Rayudu was shockingly not picked, with 'three-dimensional' Vijay Shankar getting the nod.
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After Shankar was injured, India were forced to make further changes. In the crucial semi-final, a relatively raw Rishabh Pant ended up batting at no.4 and Dinesh Karthik at no.5. India’s middle-order muddle cost them a place in the 2019 World Cup final. Something similar was repeated at the T20 World Cup 2021. There was no clarity on Hardik Pandya’s fitness even as India were dumped out of the tournament in embarrassing fashion.
It will be of utmost importance for Rohit to zero in on his players and ensure their fitness is assessed appropriately. Also, only those who are mentally up for the challenge should be picked for the World Cup, reputation notwithstanding.