Rohit Sharma is back at The Oval, hoping to rediscover his best batting avatar
Around this time last year, Rohit Sharma and his captaincy were making all the right noises.
Post the 2021 T20 World Cup debacle under Virat Kohli’s stewardship and the controversies that followed, Rohit, with his fearless, attacking approach seemed to be the breath of fresh air Indian cricket needed.
In whatever T20Is India had played, they looked a different outfit – more cavalier and more willing to take risks. Test matches presented a smaller sample space but a 2-0 series win against Sri Lanka indicated that they had not lost their touch at home.
Just when it seemed everything was in the ascendancy, a few cracks started to appear. India lost the postponed fifth Test against England at Edgbaston, allowing the hosts to level the series, which had begun in 2021.
The Men In Blue also failed to make the final of the Asia Cup. And the T20 World Cup, which was supposed to be Rohit’s crowning captaincy jewel, ended at the penultimate stage, with England annihilating them.
Rohit, of course, has not turned into a bad captain or batter overnight. Once these results unfolded, though, there has just been a bit of uneasiness among the Indian faithful. That the India captain has not quite had his way with the willow either, has only elevated the pressure.
Captain @ImRo45 joins #TeamIndia's training session here at the Arundel Castle Cricket Club.
#WTC23 https://t.co/rI7S2gOZcr
Rohit Sharma scored a stupendous ton the last time he played a Test at The Oval
Two years ago, at The Oval, Rohit found himself on the opposite end of this spectrum. India, having lost at Headingley, needed someone to stand up and arrest their slide at The Oval. The first innings was salvaged (to an extent) by Shardul Thakur but that Test was far from won when India had to bat third and put up a target.
The current India captain thrived in that environment, ultimately scoring a century and reinforcing that the signs of promise earlier in the series were not false dawns. That remains his only Test hundred away from home, and while that is not a record befitting of someone of his class, it just illustrates how much of a coming-of-age knock that was.
India, unsurprisingly, won that game and Rohit’s stocks went through the roof. Earlier in the year, he had played a similarly impactful knock on a tricky track in Chennai – a century that laid the platform for India to level the series and eventually romp home to a 3-1 victory.
This year, when Australia came knocking, the India skipper produced arguably his best Test ton, battling a raging turner at Nagpur, mixing caution and aggression superbly and showing just how a cut above the rest he was.
In fact, since the start of 2021, Rohit is India’s third-highest run-scorer in Tests, only behind Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant. Pujara, though, only has 13 more runs than his captain (1251 as opposed to 1238), despite batting in 12 more innings.
Among those to have played a minimum of five games, Rohit’s average is behind only Shreyas Iyer and Pant – both of whom will not be a part of India’s squad to take on Australia in the World Test Championship final.
That just indicates how crucial a role the 36-year-old has been playing, especially in Test cricket. Because India have played so much white-ball cricket lately, and because the IPL occupies the average cricket fan’s headspace, there is a temptation to say that Rohit is not in form and that he is declining.
He may not be batting as well as he did a couple of years ago but there is nothing suggesting that he is declining, or, that India might do better without their skipper. The fact remains that Rohit, irrespective of whatever Shubman Gill and Kohli have done lately, remains one of India’s most pivotal batters, for he sets the tone at the top of the order.
This also ties beautifully into where Rohit is as a captain. Just a year or so ago, he was on cloud nine, being front and center of a white-ball evolution that was supposed to culminate in multi-nation tournament triumphs. Neither of those went according to plan.
Lights 💡
Camera 📸
Headshots ✅
#TeamIndia | #WTC23 https://t.co/9G34bFfg78
Now, he has a chance to become the first India captain to lift the World Test Championship title. This is only the second time this competition is being contested but there is a tendency to remember the person who conquered it first - MS Dhoni at the 2007 T20 World Cup and Kapil Dev at the 1983 World Cup are prime examples of becoming highly prevalent part of India’s cricketing folklore.
A successful outing would also help him and India build momentum as they head into a home ODI World Cup later in the year. Oh, there - India need their captain and their premier opening batter to be firing on all cylinders.
That he has the opportunity to get back into that groove at The Oval – the venue where perhaps the asterisk of him not being very good away from home was removed only makes the prospective pay-off sweeter.
Two years ago, Rohit himself apart as a world-class opening batter in the longest format at this very venue. Plenty of ups and downs later, with a little bit more at stake, he can reaffirm that status.