In numbers: The various phases of Rohit Sharma’s chequered Test career
Team India captain Rohit Sharma has been struggling for runs in the ongoing Test series against England at home. He registered scores of 24 and 39 in the first Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal in Hyderabad. In the second Test, which is underway at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, he was out for 14 in the first innings and 13 in the second.
In Virat Kohli’s absence, Rohit was expected to shoulder additional responsibility in what is an inexperienced batting unit. However, he has failed to do the same so far. Questions are thus being raised about his place in the Test side.
In fact, in the build-up to the second Test, England batting legend Geoffrey Boycott opined in a column for The Telegraph that Rohit is nearly 37 and past his best, pointing out that he has scored only a couple of hundreds at home in four years.
This is not the first time that Rohit’s Test career has come under the scanner. The ongoing Test against England is his 56th in the red-ball format for India. He has scored 3,827 at an average of 44.50, with 10 hundreds.
Unlike his exceptional ODI career, Rohit’s Test ride has had its fair share of ups and downs. Here’s a detailed analysis of the different phases of the Indian captain’s chequered Test career.
#1 Inability to build on an exceptional start
After a long and frustrating wait, Rohit made his Test debut against West Indies at home in November 2013 in what was Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell series in international cricket. Against a weak opposition, the humongously talented batter enjoyed himself in the middle-order, hammering 177 and 111* in his first two Test knocks in Kolkata and Mumbai.
Rohit, however, failed to build on an exceptional start. His next Test hundred came against Sri Lanka in Nagpur in November 2017. The right-handed batter did come up with some impressive performances in between, but the consistency was missing. He scored 72 in Auckland in February 2014, 53 & 39 in Sydney in January 2015, 79 & 34 in Colombo in August 2015.
Before his hundred in Nagpur, he hit fifties in three consecutive Tests and followed up his three-figure score in Nagpur with 65 & 50* in Delhi. He also scored 63* in the 2018 Boxing Day Test against Australia.
From November 2013 to December 2018, he scored 1,585 runs in 27 Tests, averaging 39.62 with the aid of three hundreds.
#2 Reinventing himself as an opener and making a mark in overseas conditions
Although Rohit was failing to get the big scores, he had done enough for the selectors and team management to give him a chance at the top of the order in Test cricket, a promotion that had worked wonders for his one-day career. The experienced batter grabbed his chances right away and smashed 176 & 127 in his first Test as opener in Visakhapatnam against South Africa in October 2019.
To prove that his effort wasn’t a fluke, Rohit smashed 212, his maiden double hundred in the third Test of the series in Ranchi. The batter was named Player of the Series for hammering 529 runs in four innings at an average of 132.25. After a few middling scores, Rohit went on to compile a high-class 161 against England in Chennai in February 2021 on a tough batting track where most others struggled.
The high point of his Test career came in England later in the year when he answered questions about his ability as a Test opener overseas in emphatic fashion. After registering half-centuries at Lord’s and Leeds, he scored a magnificent 127 in the second innings at The Oval, which led the visitors to a famous triumph.
From October 2019 to September 2021, he played 16 Tests, scoring 1,462 runs at an excellent average of 58.48, with five hundreds.
#3 Rohit Sharma - Past his prime or just an extended lull?
After Kohli quit as Test captain, Rohit took over the reins in the red-ball format for India. In his first series as Test captain, the opener disappointed, registering scores of 29, 15 and 16 against Sri Lanka at home in March 2022.
Subsequently, Rohit led India to victory with a magnificent 120 in Nagpur in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. However, he managed a highest score of 35 in the remaining three Tests. The Indian captain also disappointed in the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia, scoring 15 & 43 at The Oval.
He scored 103, 80 and 57 in the two Tests in West Indies in July 2023. However, Rohit has failed to register a single half-century in his last eight Test innings. He put up poor scores of 5, 0, 39 and 16* during the recent tour of South Africa and has managed a highest score of 39 from two Tests in the ongoing series against England.
From March 2022 to present (February 5, 2024), Rohit has scored 780 runs in 13 Tests at an average of 37.14, with two hundreds to his name. These are not exceptionally bad figures, but definitely underwhelming.
So does Boycott’s critical analysis of Rohit being past his prime hold merit? Things will perhaps become perceptibly clear in the next three Tests of the ongoing series as Hitman battles his latest red-ball challenge.