And just like that Rohit Sharma has gained the driver’s seat. Thursday night was quite stormy for Indian cricket as a report claimed that the Lord’s ODI today could very well be his last in India colours. A lot has happened since, and then on Saturday, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia denied that the series-deciding third ODI was going to be Rohit’s swansong. However, he also said that the former India captain was going to be around as long as he was in the BCCI’s scheme of things, which kind of implied he hadn’t heard otherwise.
Some boost for Rohit for sure, but the Sword of Damocles is still hanging over him. The only way he can last all the way to the World Cup next year is through consistent performances, and today’s game is going to be very crucial for him. If he can score big today as he did at the SCG in Australia last year with 121 not out, things can dramatically turn around for him. And if the Indian team also wins and takes the series, nothing like it. The immediate threat that has been in the air for the last couple of days will completely blow over. Say, even if Saikia didn’t exactly mean what he said, the BCCI will have no other option but to give Rohit more chances.
It was always clear that with his ageing, often accompanied by inconsistency and the fizzling out of skills, things would become difficult for Rohit, who was at the helm when India won the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the 2025 Champions Trophy in the UAE.
No matter what anyone says, Rohit knows that to play in the 50-overs World Cup next year — the only trophy that he has not won — he has to be exceptionally good whenever he gets the opportunity. That has not been the case. In the three ODIs against Afghanistan at home last month, he got scores of 16, 48 and 79. Ideally, he should have scored a couple of really big innings against a team not so distinguished. Cricket is for sure a game of glorious uncertainties, but if one doesn’t inspire much confidence on docile home tracks, the odds of their getting success abroad in tricky conditions can’t be high. That’s exactly what has happened in England. In both matches, Rohit has looked ill at ease, and he ate up too many balls for his 26 the other day at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.
Can he do it today and save his neck?
Now the 39-year-old finds himself in a precarious situation. The need to score big today has never been bigger. If he fails again, the clamour against him will pick up one more time. The West Indies are up next for three ODIs from September 27-October 3, and the matches will be played in Kerala, Assam and Punjab, where the odds of his scoring big runs should be significantly higher. Till then, to breathe better, Rohit has to score a defining innings today. He is not the first player in Indian cricket to invite intense scrutiny at this stage of their career. Sad as it may sound, that’s how it has always been and will always be. The quicker he understands it, the better it will be for him. Probably he does, but doesn’t have the same game anymore.
