 "Rohit Sharma: Latest failure at Gabba pushes India skipper to deep depths of despondency")
Not until eight hours after the start of play at the Gabba on Tuesday did Rohit Sharma manage a smile, finally. His deputy, Jasprit Bumrah, and No. 11 Akash Deep had put the top order to shame with a battling last-wicket alliance, even if against a tiring pace attack operating with a wet, soft ball. When Deep slashed Pat Cummins to the square third man fence for four, he hauled India over the follow-on mark of 246 . Virat Kohli was animated as ever, smashing high-fives with head coach Gautam Gambhir, then assistant coach Abhishek Nayar and finally with Rohit, whose primary reaction was a (relieved?) smile. After all, there had been no reason for the captain to smile otherwise, not after another failure pushed him into the deep depths of despondency.
Rohit these days is unrecognisable as the proactive, tempo-setting batter who lit up the scene at the 50-over and T20 World Cups, who made two cracking hundreds in three Tests in February and March against England. The lack of runs, and therefore confidence, seems to be percolating to his captaincy as well. On day four of the third Test, having put in all the hard yards, Rohit threw his hand away with a loose waft outside off to his counterpart Cummins, his slow shuffle off the park for a 27-ball 10 reflective of the dark clouds of self-doubt rummaging through his mind.
Hitman’s continuous decline since October
Had this been a one-off, it wouldn’t have been so much of a concern, but this was Rohit’s seventh failure on the trot, starting from the second Test against New Zealand in Pune in October. In seven Tests since September, he has touched fifty just once. He has dropped down the order in the interests of his team – that move was again justified by KL Rahul, who propped up India’s innings with a wonderfully compiled 84 – but a return to where he started his Test career hasn’t proved fruitful. To say that Rohit is at a crossroads will be no exaggeration.
Having missed the Perth victory, Rohit decided that India would be best served in Adelaide too if Rahul partnered Yashasvi Jaiswal after the two put on 201 in the second innings at the Optus Stadium. Some believed, unfairly, that it was a cop out of sorts. Nothing can be more imprudent and farther from the truth. Rohit is anything but a shirker, and by opting to go back to the middle order, he was forcing himself out of the comfort zone that opening the batting for the last five years had provided him. To reinvent himself in a position that he doesn’t view with any great fondness from the time he has had a taste of opening in Tests wasn’t going to be easy, but that was quintessential Rohit, putting the team ahead of himself.
Also Read | Rohit's half-hearted captaincy approach leaves India on backfoot in Gabba
In the pink-ball Test in Adelaide, Rohit received two excellent deliveries, one that nipped back to catch him in front and another that jagged away past his outside edge to hit his off-stump. That undoubtedly added to his woes, particularly given that he was coming off not just a string of poor outings against the Kiwis but also because under his watch, India were whitewashed for the first time at home in a series involving more than two Tests. Suddenly, his batting and leadership exploits at the T20 World Cup seemed a distant dream, even though they had come about only five and a half months previously. Rohit needed a score for his own sake, but also to rediscover his mojo, to reinstall himself as the inspirational captain and leader and tactician under whom India have mostly flourished in the last two and a half years.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsHe did all the right things in Brisbane till such time that he was in the middle. Forced to come out late on a stop-start Monday, he saw off a tricky six deliveries to close, then batted with care and caution alongside Rahul when India resumed day four on 51 for four in reply to Australia’s 445. Australia were armed with a ball that was only 17 overs old and came hard, expectedly, through the excellent duo of Cummins and Mitchell Starc. Rahul, dropped first ball of the day by Steve Smith at second slip, and Rohit adroitly negated their threat for just about half an hour when disaster struck.
Pat Cummins is that fired up after getting Rohit Sharma!#AUSvIND | #OhWhatAFeeling | @Toyota_Aus pic.twitter.com/dZImJlva2I
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 17, 2024
Rohit was lured into playing an elaborate drive to a ball of tempting length outside off, a stroke that looks great when it comes off but which can be embarrassing when the result is of the nature that ensued on Tuesday. In many ways, it was an innocuous ball that could have been left alone because it didn’t warrant a stroke, it did nothing in the air and it went straight through after pitching. Rohit’s hopeful flirt presented Alex Carey with the simplest of catches, sending Cummins into paroxysms of rhapsody and his opposite number into utter despair. Rohit’s long, lonely walk back was reminiscent of Kohli’s the previous afternoon , head bowed in disappointment, the privacy of the dressing room both inviting and yet an unnecessary intrusion.
Mighty fall for Rohit
This has been a mighty fall for Rohit, these last three months when the runs just won’t come. He is a far better batter than this – he knows his, his supporters know it, his critics know it too. But knowing alone isn’t good enough. Rohit needs runs. He needs to fire. He needs to make his customary statements, with flair and panache if he can, but with grim determination and unwavering focus will do nicely, too. Like Kohli, but not without the same iridescent numbers, his volume of work is impressively top-class, but especially in a floundering batting line-up, reputation can’t count for a lot. India have lost four of their last five Tests – the only one they won in this period was under Bumrah – with Rohit overseeing each one of them.
In all probability, unless things go horribly wrong on the final day, India will go to Melbourne with the series still in the balance, with honours even. The intimidating MCG, which will host the Boxing Day Test, and the hallowed SCG, where the New Year’s Test will be played, will be defining outings for Rohit Sharma, the Test batter and captain. The onus is on him to rediscover the spark that will light his fire, and to return with a red-hot bat that will rock Australia. Whether that’s as an opener, at No. 6 or at No. 3 is immaterial. If not, the whispers will grow in decibels, a new cricketing order in the country might be imminent.
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