With England well ready to unleash its Bazball tactics on India in their tour it was evident that , India without the likes of experienced Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane in their test ranks in order to create a new test squad with the inclusion of youngsters like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill alongside Shreyas Iyer to their squad it is evident that the crux of the Indian batting will heavily depend on Rohit Sharma , Virat Kohli and KL Rahul to some extent.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid will be aware of the fact that though in Indian conditions , the English bowlers would come in full force and he and Virat has to do chunk of run scoring across the series.
Rohit Sharma who last played some valuable knocks versus England most vividly the century he scored on a difficult wicket in Chennai when England toured India last time around and a match winning century in the 3rd innings that set up India’s win in the subsequent tour to England at Trent Bridge knows for the fact that it would be his responsibility to carry young and fiery Yashasvi Jaiswal alongside him and give India rollicking opening stands for the middle order like Gill, Iyer, Kohli and Rahul to settle down and pile on the runs on England.
Virat Kohli’s absence took a huge toll on Rohit Sharma
This heavy dependence on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli could be a boon for youngsters like Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal to grab their opportunities to be big names in the tournament as the English bowlers will be busy concentrating on the methods to get Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli out early and might slightly overlook them in the process.
However Team India got its lesson in the very first match itself at Hyderabad as Virat Kohli citing out of the first two matches due to “personal ” reasons onus was on Captain Rohit Sharma to guide the team in the first two matches. This responsibility took the setback as Rohit Sharma led Indian team lost the first match from the winning position by 28 runs. However India on the back of inspired performances from Jaiswal , Gill and Bumrah managed to win the second test at Vizag by 106 runs to make series stand level at 1-1.
However what was concerning more is the form of Indian skipper Rohit Sharma with the bat which is a worried picture for quite a few time now especially in test cricket.
Rohit Sharma’s poor form in tests over past few years
In absence of India’s star batter Virat Kohli due to personal reasons from the first two tests in India , all were expecting that India’s batting hopes lied on the shoulders of Rohit Sharma. Rohit Sharma who captained India in the final of the recently concluded ICC World Test Championships 2021-23 and the famous Capetown win in January 2024 with Rahul Dravid helming coaching duties was expected to win the first test against England in Hyderabad.
With the bat Rohit Sharma too had returned to form post his superb record breaking fifth century in the last T20I versus the Afghanistan and many felt that the batter got a right form in front of the much anticipated series a week later. However things were not to be so easy in the first test versus England.
After bundling out England for mere 246 in the first innings , India got to a flying start of 80 runs for the first wicket in inside 12 overs but the majority of the contributor was youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal who blasted the English bowlers. Rohit Sharma on the other hand managed 24 runs of 27 balls.
In the second innings of England batting, Rohit Sharma and his team had a chance to bowl out England well before the lead of 190 they took in the first innings and had England reeling 163 for 5 , however Rohit Sharma whose bowling attack was bolstered by the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel alongside Jasprit Bumrah failed to restrict England to meagre total as they set India a target of 231 runs to win a test match.
In conquest of 231 where India required a positive approach, the Indian batters failed to achieve the same. Rohit Sharma expected to lead the side to victory started on the positive note showed some aggression with sweeps and reverse sweeps only to fall at stroke of tea scoring 39 runs giving debutant Tom Hartley his 3rd wicket of the innings and India reeling at 95 for 3 at Tea on Day 4. Further India slumped to a 28 runs defeat and a question is raised on Rohit Sharma’s ability as a captain and a batter to take India to the target .
Rohit surprisingly extended his low-scoring run in the 2nd Test against Ben Stokes’ men. In a match where his partner-in-crime Yashaswi Jaiswal shattered records with his maiden double ton, India captain Rohit registered scores of 14 and 13 against the James Anderson-starrer side.
Rohit Sharma also had a forgettable series in South Africa, managing a solitary half-century in four innings. His inability to convert starts to big scores has raised doubts in the mind of Former England player and commentator Geoffrey Boycott previously after the first Test. However his slump in form continued which irked the likes of Former Indian cricketer now commentator Sanjay Manjrekar who believes that Rohit Sharma should now take inspiration from legendary Indian skipper MS Dhoni.
I just wonder whether Rohit Sharma is getting too caught up in trying to make an impact as a leader- Sanjay Manjrekar
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has shared words of wisdom to current skipper Rohit Sharma regarding his lean phase with the bat in the ongoing Test series against England.
The 58-year-old wants the star opener to stay invested in his batting and focus on the process during captaincy instead of getting animated during every dismissal.
Manjrekar’s comments came as Rohit returned with scores of 24,39, 14, and 13 in the last two Tests against England, where India won and lost one game each. The right-hander had also failed to deliver with the bat in South Africa, registering scores of five, duck, 39, and 16* in the two Tests, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
On Thursday (February 8), Manjrekar told ESPNCricinfo:
“I just wonder whether Rohit Sharma is getting too caught up in trying to make an impact as a leader. It’s got to be Rohit Sharma the batter first and then the captain because when you’re captain, most things are beyond your control.
He continued:
“Try and do the right things and hold the words of MS Dhoni. You do the process and wait for things to happen, but batting is something that’s within his control very much.”
Sanjay Manjrekar wants Rohit Sharma to return to form in remaining three Tests against England
Sanjay Manjrekar pointed out that Rohit Sharma should reflect on his Test centuries in England and India (vs Australia) over the last two years and return back to his best in the remaining three games against the English team.
The cricketer-turned-commentator said:
“If Rohit Sharma becomes the Rohit Sharma for a couple of years back, especially the one that we saw in England in that full series would be great. The Rohit Sharma that we saw in the first Test match in the home series against Australia.
Manjrekar added:
“He’s got to go back to where he looked like a batter who looked supreme in Test matches. We want Rohit Sharma getting runs.”
Rohit had scored 368 runs in four Tests at an average of 52.57 in England back in 2021. The 36-year-old had also scored 242 runs in four Tests at an average of 40.33 against Australia during the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He will next lead India in the third Test at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot from February 15 with the series tied at 1-1.
In Virat Kohli’s likely absence for the entire series it is now onus on Indian skipper Rohit Sharma to guide the team with the bat towards series victory and inspire the youngsters within the team too leading from the front both as batter and the captain.