DHARMASALA: Every captain has unique traits on the field. Sometimes it changes from format to format. It was the case even for MS Dhoni, who is arguably one of the greatest white-ball skippers, when he was found wanting in Test cricket. Rohit Sharma’s rise to captaincy is a tad similar.
For someone who made a name in the shortest format at the Indian Premier League before ascending to white-ball and red-ball captaincy, Rohit is different from Dhoni in a couple of ways. Unlike Dhoni, who largely relies on instincts (at least that is what it seems like), Rohit’s strength lies in preparing and going in with plan A, B and C. The other difference is when you look at Dhoni on the field, you might not get a read on him. His poker face will tell you nothing about what is he thinking or how he will react to the match situation.
Meanwhile, one look at Rohit and you will see that there are no filters. When the session or game is not going India’s way, you can see it in his face. He will be worked up sometimes, and on other occasions, it would feel like he is just going through the motions without much planning or adaptation. It was quite evident during the ongoing five-match rubber against visiting England. In fact, for the better part of the Test series, that is how it felt.
Rohit-led India were caught off guard in Hyderabad when England came hard at them. Questions were asked and rightly so. Then in Visakhapatnam, they got the combination right and the rest was taken care of by Jasprit Bumrah and Jaiswal. In Rajkot, however, Rohit had to do something on day three. He did not have R Ashwin, England were running away with their batting.
This time, he came better prepared. After reading the surface better on day two, Kuldeep Yadav bowled wider lines making Ben Duckett reach, then after lunch, the field changed. They attacked the stumps, had close-in fielders. End result — Mohammed Siraj took four wickets as India gained a 146-run lead. From thereon, there was looking back.
India took lead, came to Ranchi. Once again, Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid read the conditions and devised plans accordingly. While it seemed like England took the first day — credit to Joe Root — and India conceded a tad more than they should have, they went back to the drawing board and came up with better plans. England were all out in a couple of sessions on day three with Ashwin and Kuldeep adapting to the surface.
In sports, which operates in a hyperbole more often than not, captaincy is an intricate concept, especially in cricket. When things are going the team’s way, it would seem like the captain is waving a magic wand and when it doesn’t the same person might look clueless if they don’t react on the field. Take Ben Stokes for example, he would constantly try something or other — of course with a logic behind it — and the conversations would revolve around how proactive he is. On the other hand, Rohit, who does a lot by the book with set pieces, might seem passive when he is not reacting every over. The scoreline, at the moment, reads India 3-1 England.
This is not to say Rohit is a better captain than X, Y, Z but to establish the fact that he had better answers for the most important question — how to take 20 wickets in a Test? To be honest, Rohit, even with the resources at hand, didn’t in Hyderabad, and to an extent in Vizag as well. But when pushed back, he went to work out better plans and the result is there to see. Even Rohit himself admitted the challenges posed by this England team after Ranchi win. “..certainly, we knew before the series started that it is going to be a challenging series, and England is going to play slightly different cricket than the rest of the teams who have come here, and to be honest, they have found some success as well, in playing that way, but I thought we were quite composed in what we wanted to do as a batting unit, as a bowling unit, and I thought in the end we were rewarded with that,” he said.
In the lead-up to the series, among the key talking points was Rohit’s captaincy. Although he was named as Test captain in early 2022, Rohit had already missed three of the 14 matches India had played, including one against England in England. He was coming from a series levelling performance in South Africa, but this series, and the year (10 home Tests) in general, was going to determine where he stands as a Test skipper. And unlike his predecessor — Kohli — who took over a transitioning team in his mid-20s, Rohit, at 36, does not have the luxury of time to learn and grow into the job before imprinting his legacy in the longest format.
Having already lost one World Test Championship final, the upcoming cycle is perhaps his best chance of doing it. Despite the initial stumbles, Rohit has gotten it together and in the process has found some youngsters for the future as well. How he will go in Australia and thereafter is unknown. But for now, he has made a mark both as captain and leader.
