‘Kya yaar? Cricket hi hai, khel lunga’- said an amused Rohit Sharma to us in Sydney Cricket Ground when he was about to leave post the team’s practice session in the last Border Gavaskar Trophy. His smile was careless and charming as ever. Little did we know that he would be sitting out of India’s starting eleven for the next day. That, precisely, is the story of Rohit Sharma. The first one to put his hand up when his team needs something of someone, the first one to call a spade a spade in the post-match presentation ceremonies and the first ever Indian captain to reach four ICC tournament finals.
But that is not the point of this article. Things were not like this when Rohit took over as the limited overs captain after the 2021 T20 World Cup debacle. India somehow scraped through to the semi final of the 2022 T20 World Cup under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma.
Then came the dreaded November 10, 2022 at Adelaide. Within 16 overs, the English batters Jos Buttler (captain then) and Alex Hales, made light work of the 169 runs target set by the Indian team. A dejected Rohit Sharma walked back towards the dressing room. Rohit made 27 off 28 balls in the semi final of a T20 World Cup which did not go down well with supporters and journalists, but most importantly, Rohit himself.
Post the semi final eye opener, something had to give. Fans were disappointed to see a timid limited overs Indian side. Now go back to the first paragraph of this article. Rohit Sharma stepped up as a leader and took up the baton himself. The template he set was very clear. India would not play conservative cricket any more. The cricketing world has moved on and clearly, India needed to catch up. India would play an aggressive brand of cricket, coupled with caution. And the best people to do that? Rohit at No.1 and somebody named Virat Kohli at No.3.
Within a year, came the 50 overs World Cup on Indian soil. Rohit Sharma knew he had to turn his words into actions. India tried that brand of cricket in their first match against Australia, only to be reeling at 2/3 before Kohli and KL Rahul took the team past the finishing line. Eyebrows were raised immediately. What was the point of playing this brand of cricket if you don’t take to it naturally? Rohit kept mum.
And then came the vintage Rohit Sharma carnage against Afghanistan. Rohit smashed 131 off just 84 balls against an attack which boasted of Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman among others. There was no looking back from there on. If Virat was at his pristine best during the World Cup, Rohit switched on his beast mode. The captain finished the World Cup as the second highest run getter of the tournament (of course Virat Kohli led the charts). But what stood out was he scored these runs at an astonishing strike rate of 125.94, eighth highest of the tournament. Not for once, he backed away from his own template, even during the semi final and the final. Rohit raced away to 47 runs off 31 balls in the final before Travis Head took a blinder to stop the tempest.
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The same suit followed in India’s victorious 2024 T20 World Cup campaign. Rohit Sharma finished as the second highest run getter of the tournament with 257 runs at a strike rate of 156.70. Let us not forget, few of these runs came on the terrible pitches of New York. Rohit particularly took a liking against Mitchell Starc and Australia in the group game. He smashed 92 off 41 balls with a strike rate of 224.39 and thrashed Starc for 29 runs in the third over of the match to set up the tone.
Somehow after all these, Rohit Sharma had a curious Champions Trophy campaign. He came into the tournament having scored a century against England in the ODI series just before that, but somehow didn’t quite look like the Rohit of 2023 and 2024.
But he made sure he was not going to occupy the crease for too long. He would play his shots and continue with the template that he had set, the template which got India enormous success in the white ball format under his leadership. Rohit looked scratchy, ugly, sometimes rusty but never ever did he lack ‘intent.’ The intent of giving India quick starts, the intent of making good use of the powerplay on the turning tracks in Dubai. Rohit connected and missed and connected again before he became the man in the final every opposition would fear. Any chance the Kiwis had yesterday was put to rest by the Indian captain who just did Rohit Sharma things to knock the wind out of New Zealand’s sails.
Yes, the manner in which he got out was uncalled for, especially at that stage of the game with two quick wickets falling back to back, but ladies and gentlemen, that’s precisely how Rohit Sharma bats. That is the template he has set for the team. Head coach Gautam Gambhir validated the ‘intent and impact’ over the personal statistics and lauded the Indian captain in his own press conference.
The best moment came when Rohit Sharma said in the post match presentation yesterday that this wasn’t his natural style of playing. With that one sentence you could understand what makes Rohit Sharma the leader, the team man that he is. Now that you think of it, you actually realise that these two are interlinked. A leader can be good if he is a good team man in the first place.
Rohit Sharma is not done yet. Do not write him off just yet. But knowing him, he would probably offer a lazy smile and walk away with one thing still running in his mind ‘Mujhe sirf World Cup dikhta hai bhai.’ That one 50 overs World Cup box is still unticked for one of the best white ball leaders cricket has ever had.
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