CHENNAI: THE 'Ah, s***, here we go again' meme, taken from 2004 video game, 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas', is perfect for bad situations that seem to occur on an endless loop. One such situation played itself out just before the heavens opened up during the second day of the fourth Test between Australia and India.
Batting serenely on 44, Rohit Sharma gave Lyon the charge, tried to find the gap between deep square leg and long on but only ended up chipping the ball rather than muscling it. It got the required elevation but the timing wasn't there and Mitchell Starc completed a running catch. This is another in a catalogue of dismissals that will hang over Sharma's head.
Remember his 28 at Southampton in 2014 when he lofted Moeen Ali to mid-off's throat. Or his 32 at Brisbane in 2015 when he went after a wide one and gave catching practice to slips. Or his 35 at Kanpur in 2016 when he failed to clear mid-on. Or his 47 at Centurion when a mis-timed hook failed to clear fine-leg. Or his 37 at Adelaide in 2018 when an ugly swipe, immediately after hitting a six, failed to clear square-leg. Or his 52 at Sydney last week when an impetuous pull was taken in the deep behind square. In each of these cases, the Mumbaikar seemed to be in control, batting like a million bucks.
Yet, with him, you are always in with a chance. It's the way he likes to play his cricket even if his methodologies let him down. Looking back at the dismissal, he said it was 'sad' way to get out but he will 'keep playing shots'. That, in a microcosm, sums him up. Live by his beliefs, get out because of those beliefs.
That was perhaps why he enraged Sunil Gavaskar and countless others. "Why? Why? Why?," he fumed on air. "That's an unbelievable shot. That's an irresponsible shot. There's a fielder there at long on, there's a fielder at square leg, you've just hit a boundary a couple of deliveries earlier, why would you play that shot? You're a senior player, there's no excuse, absolutely no excuse for this shot."
Sharma himself didn't offer an excuse. "It (the shot) is not coming out of nowhere," he said. "It is a shot that I play. And I have played it very well in the past. It is something that I really back myself to do all the time. That is the kind of role I play in this team. Yes, when it looks like that, it looks bad, but that is something I don't think too much into. Of course, I like to make it count and make it big but having said that there is a process which I like to follow, and the process is to make sure that once I am in, I am on top of the bowlers, and that I am trying to keep the pressure on the opposition bowlers. Sometimes you get out; sometimes it goes over the rope, but yeah, I mean, it was unfortunate and a very sad dismissal, to be honest. Again, those are my shots and I will keep playing them."
He also indicated that his place in the side was to transfer pressure back on the bowlers. "I like to put the pressure on the bowler once I am in, and that is my role in the team. To make sure I keep putting that pressure on the bowlers because we have seen throughout the series how run-scoring has been difficult. So somewhere, someone needs to put his hand up and think about how we can put the pressure back on the bowlers. And while doing that there are chances you will make a mistake, and you should be ready to accept that. I am ready to accept that because it was a plan."
The plan worked. And then it didn't, just like many of his innings' in the past.