Rohit Sharma has been considered as the future of Indian batting since he burst into the domestic circuit a few years ago. Technically he is correct and his batting is very pleasing on the eyes, but despite the potential he has, even Rohit Sharma will admit the fact that he has let his country down by his international performances till now.
It is a fact that all the captains under whom he has played at the state level, international level or the Indian Premier League have acknowledged Rohit to be an extraordinarily talented batsman. But what happens to him at the international level is a mystery. It is not that he has not performed at all. He has played some very good knocks and we all remember his crucial innings in the finals of the Commonwealth Bank series that India won.
He has two centuries and 12 half-centuries to his name, but for a player who made his debut five years ago, his record is below average. He has been in and out of the team and it is all because of his performance.
Even two legendary Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne have said that they fail believe why Rohit hasn’t made debut in Test matches. However one can’t blame the Indian team management for not picking him up in the most difficult format, going by his performance in the ODIs.
Rohit, who has shown miraculous form in all the IPL, was picked to play against Sri Lanka ahead of Ajinkya Rahane and Manoj Tiwary (whose last one-day innings was a hundred) and in the last two innings his score reads 5 and 0. The way he gets himself out is doubly frustrating. In the first match he got a good ball on which he was late but in the second match he tried playing a cross-batted shot and dragged the ball back on to the stumps. It is his loose batting and his airy-fairy strokes that makes people livid about why such a talent is going to waste.
For a player of his quality who has made his ODI debut in 2007, he should have by now had at least scored more than five centuries but he has only two to his name. Rohit has impressed Indian cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar from the very beginning and he even said that Rohit has the capacity to match his records. But scoring 1966 runs in 82 matches at an average of 32 just does not justifies the faith shown on him by our legends.
After Dravid’s retirement it is speculated that Rohit will finally get a chance, but based on what? He
had a golden opportunity to show his talent in white colors when India A travelled to the Caribbean to compete against a below-par West Indies A team. But Sharma in that series scored only 145 runs at an average of 24 against a very ordinary attack.
There is no doubt that Rohit Sharma is a gifted player and every captain wants to have him in his team, but his continuous failure at the highest level and his poor shot selection might cut short his career. To it there are others like Ajinkya Rahane, manoj Tiwary and Cheteshwar Pujara to name a few, who are ready to grab the opportunities with both hands. In a time when India is looking to rebuild their Test team they need players who are willing to maximize whatever talent they have, what India do not want is a player in the team who has huge potential but disappoints whenever he is tested.
By Gaurav Jha
Indian Sports News Network
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