Shamik Chakrabarty in Cuttack
“What kind of a question is that?” Rohit Sharma had taken exception to a question about his form ahead of the first ODI against England in Nagpur. “This is a different format, different time.”
India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, a new addition to the coaching staff, is a mild-mannered man. He resorted to the recent past to allay fears about the skipper’s batting travails.
“I personally don’t think there’s any problem,” said Kotak at the pre-match press conference, with the stage set for the second game at a rousing Barabati Stadium. More than 20,000 fans turned up to watch India’s practice on Saturday evening. The stands would be chock-a-block on Sunday.
Kotak, meanwhile, continued to defend the skipper. “In the last three one-dayers Rohit has played (before this series, in Sri Lanka), he scored 56, 64 and 35,” said the batting coach. “So, nearly averaging 50-plus in those last three one-dayers. I mean, we are talking about a player, like the guy has got 31 ODI hundreds. And when they are (scoring in) back-to-back matches, when they keep scoring runs, nobody asks, when will he fail?”
Apparently, the Indian team is not reading too much into Rohit’s dismissal for a single-digit (2) score in the first ODI. “I think when sometimes somebody gets out or has a little bit of a lean patch, I don’t think I would be worried or I would be thinking about their forms,” said Kotak. “Yes, Australia Tests, if you are saying, yes, that was a tough time and the guys get out, that’s fine. But about the one-dayers, the way he batted in the last three one-dayers before the first match (in this series), he has always been scoring runs. So, not really much concerned about that.”
Is the team living in denial over Rohit’s form? Then again, can it be any different, given that he has already been appointed as captain for the Champions Trophy? Red-ball cricket or white-ball (in Nagpur), slowing reflexes have been proving to be his bugbear. Is there an antidote to that for a player who is nearing 38?
Rohit has enough credit in the bank, a reason why he remains such a big crowd-puller. India had an optional training session on the match eve, but both Rohit and Virat Kohli – his availability for the second ODI has been confirmed by Kotak – turned up and hit the nets amid loud cheers.
The view of the ground from the Barabati Stadium press box is restricted. Rohit walked into the nets after Kohli was done with his first stint. Playing peek-a-boo through the gap that the sight screen offered, it was nigh-on impossible to find out how the players fared at the nets, the areas they worked on. But nets form itself sometimes can be misleading.
Make no mistake, Rohit is under pressure and he needs to turn things around quickly. Barabati traditionally has been a high-scoring venue, and this is probably the captain’s biggest chance to get out of the rut.
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