View from the ring by Tushar Bhaduri: What does the future hold for out-of-form Indian captain Rohit Sharma? – Opinion news

Steve Smith was said to be a shadow of his former self before scoring a long-awaited hundred against India in the Brisbane Test. And the adage about London buses came to mind when he repeated the feat with a much smoother and dominant century in Melbourne.

This proved that it is often perilous to dismiss champions. Today, Rohit Sharma’s Test record may not have reached the heights of the former Australian captain, but he is still one of the leaders in contemporary cricket.

Rohit has scored 50-plus in his last 14 visits to the crease, and his last Test hundred came in March during the home series against England, a high point for him as a batsman and skipper. The last summer at home was forgettable and he has not reached double figures in his four innings in Australia since joining the team after the birth of his second child.

Rohit was the target of almost unplayable deliveries – the pearler he got from Pat Cummins in the second innings in Adelaide comes to mind – but he often looked out of sorts and uncertain on both sides of the bat . He intercepted deliveries outside the off stump and dropped the LBW into the hands of the backers.

Returning to his familiar place at the top of the order, the half-hearted shot he bowled in Melbourne’s first innings would have worried his fans. Rohit may yet overcome this slump in the few remaining knocks Down Under, but at 37, it is understandable that there are questions about his medium-term future in the game.

It wasn’t long ago that he toasted the nation after ending India’s long trophy drought in ICC tournaments. Rohit was praised for leading from the front and instilling aggressive intent in a team that had recently suffered a major disappointment in a 50-over World Cup final at home after dominating the entire tournament.

But this formula doesn’t always work in the longer form of the game, which contains many more nuances. Defense is not just an old irritant in the family, but the bedrock of the Test game. But quite often in recent times, Rohit has been seen trying to get out of trouble, with little success. This type of approach may work in T20 cricket, but Test match bowlers are unlikely to allow this strategy to succeed for long.

In a batting line-up that has largely struggled and in which top batsman Virat Kohli found things difficult after a ton in the second innings of the first Test, Rohit’s struggles forced the team management to tinkering with the game. XI and batting order.

The team chosen for the Melbourne Test had only four specialist batsmen and the wicketkeeper, followed by three all-rounders who in their current avatars look more like batsmen who can turn the arm. They are more like support bowlers.

What else can explain why Nitish Kumar Reddy bowled only seven overs while Australia compiled 474 in nearly 123 overs! The decision to bring back Rohit as an opener and the lack of bowling support for the other side’s Jasprit Bumrah led to the omission of Shubman Gill. Whatever the thought process behind the decisions, it hardly had the desired impact as Bumrah ended up bowling almost 29 overs in Australia’s first innings. The workload he has shouldered will take its toll on any player.

After the first Test in Perth, India have placed a clear second in the ongoing series. The end of the current World Test Championship (WTC) cycle could be an opportunity for a fresh start.

Time for introspection

All this does not dilute Rohit’s legacy in any way. A career spanning 66 Tests producing over 4,000 runs at an average of 42 with 12 hundreds is nothing to sneeze at. He is also credited with taking forward the good work done during the Kohli-Ravi Shastri stint. But the asterisk of the first home defeat in 12 years will always remain in Rohit’s record.

Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane were at the helm when India triumphed in the West Indies in their last two visits, and if Rohit fails to complete the hat-trick and fails to secure a place in the WTC final, it could also be blamed on the captain, despite the current team being in transition and several senior players being in the autumn of their careers.

Test cricket is a cruel game and there is no place to hide in the middle, especially if you are the captain. In the final analysis, the only criterion for judging a batsman is runs. The current iteration of the Australian team is not the strongest, but bowling remains its strong suit. There is no shame in addressing class operators like Cummins, but appearing clueless and seemingly a walking wicket is not the way Rohit would like to retire from the game.

Many of football’s best found a trip to Australia a bridge too far at the end of their careers – Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman come to mind after the ill-fated 2011-12 series.

But as Smith showed, the situation is not always catastrophic. The situation can be turned around when people start to doubt the credentials of a top player. Motivation and the desire to take on difficult projects are often crucial factors as we age. Marnus Labuschagne was a wreck in Perth and there were calls to drop him from the side, but while he’s still not at his best, the Australian number 3 has worked hard to get some points and remain useful at the team.

At the current stage of his career, Rohit has nothing to prove to anyone – except to himself that he still brings some value to the team. It’s up to him to look in the mirror, ask himself tough questions, and give honest answers.