In 2006, at the Colombo RPS Stadium, a rather slim-looking, Under-19 cricketer took a middle-stump guard against England Under-19. In what turned out to be the semifinal of that World Cup, he proceeded to play some delightful lofts and flicks while facing the opponent’s medium pacers and spinners. More than anything else, what caught the attention of the eye was that the young batter seemed to have a little more time on his hands. As soon as he reached his fifty, the batter looked heavenwards to celebrate the moment. This batter turns out to be none other than the future India skipper, Rohit Sharma.
Many moons have gone by since the completion of that World Cup. Rohit himself had gone on to compile game-breaking knocks in senior World Cups and double tons in ODIs. He has also left his imprint in the Test-match arena, especially on spin-friendly pitches. The one point that remained constant right through that entire phase was Rohit had a little more time on his hands.
Over the last few months, however, something seems to have changed. The current India skipper is getting rushed a bit by pace. On occasions, he has tried to premeditate his shot in order to take the ball early. Rohit’s rather ungainly-looking pull while facing a short of a length ball in the MCG Test is an example. The second innings of the 2025 Ranji Trophy game between Mumbai and Jammu and Kashmir illustrates the point further.
In this context, we have to also talk about the first ODI versus England. This time around, Rohit’s mind seemed to be in a dilemma: Whether to attack or defend. Ultimately, he didn’t do either of it as his toe-ended flick, sans any conviction, landed in the mitts of the fielder at mid-on. It was also a clear indicator of Rohit’s state of mind. His current mindset could be noticed even during the press conference before the Nagpur ODI. The India skipper, who isn’t exactly known for losing his cool, got agitated quite a few times.
On a positive note, Rohit seemed relaxed and chilled out ahead of the second game in Cuttack. That is the mental aspect of his game. But what can Rohit realistically do in order to counter the rules of nature? The body invariably slows down/reflexes slow down. Perhaps he can flip through some of the insightful copies written by the Late Martin Crowe on facing pace bowling.
The former New Zealand skipper had said this while sharing his thoughts on Sachin Tendulkar, at the fag end of his illustrious career, “He can get up onto his toes more and he can start to move his back foot fractionally up and down to get it activated. This will help him to start to move both feet when the ball is closing in,” he told Cricinfo. Basically, by incorporating those couple of movements into his game, he might be able to take the ball a tad early. It could be a temporary fix, but worth a try.
At this juncture, one more question could arise in the mind. How could a player who looked in prime form in the 2023 World Cup and in Sri Lanka last year suddenly lose time? At that level, all it takes is for a batter to be fractionally slower than before. The process of his body slowing down might have begun a couple of years ago. For instance, he seemed a touch slower on his horizontal-bat shot while facing South Africa, in a 2022 T20 World Cup group game. In simple words, his reflexes might have ebbed away bit-by-bit.
Despite all the doom and gloom surrounding Rohit’s lacklustre returns with the bat, there could still be a silver lining. For starters, most of his poor scores have come in the longest format of the game. Maybe we need to de-hyphenate his red-ball form from the white-ball format.
The pitch at the Cuttack stadium is also expected to be flat. England themselves were part of a high-scoring affair in 2017. Who knows? This could be the right venue for Rohit to blaze his way to a hundred. And leave you with bits of nostalgia from another time, when Rohit’s batting was about the sweet sound of the willow meeting the leather.
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