Rohit Sharma‘s enigmatic Test journey will encounter a climacteric bend when he travels to England, a country where he’s played just one Test. Aadya Sharma on how the trip could define how we remember his Test career.
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There’s never a unanimous stance when debating over Rohit Sharma, the Test cricketer. A career that’s been riddled with ups and downs is difficult to define under a single bracket or collective sentiment. It’s been an intriguing journey, and it’s set to encounter a decisive tour.
How Rohit’s Test career is remembered is likely to depend heavily on his success (or lack thereof) in the upcoming England tour. It’s a country where he’s played just one Test, and it’s where he’s likely to play six matches in the next four months.
At 34, Rohit’s career is closer to its finish than to its start. And it’s only two years since he really found his identity in Test cricket and became a first-choice opener. Now, with his first Test tour to England in seven years, Rohit has a chance to define how the second half of his career pans out.
Since the start of 2019, Rohit’s average of 64.37 is the best for a Test opener (with at least two innings). He’s scored four hundreds, the joint-most by an opening batsman in this period. There possibly has never been a better time for a red-hot Rohit to enter a tour as challenging as England.
As well as he has done to erase his past shortcomings, there are still lingering doubts over his ability to dominate Tests the same manner away from home. His Test average in Tests abroad still stands at an unconvincing 27.00, with no centuries in 37 innings so far. His solitary innings in England came in the Southampton Test of 2014, where he scored 28 & 6, batting at No.6 both times. The dismissal in the first innings was especially jarring when he ended up holing out to mid-off off Moeen Ali, just minutes before tea.
Rohit’s evolved significantly since then, and while he didn’t participate in significant Test tours to the UK, he’s been immensely successful in white-ball matches there, averaging 66.75 in 24 matches. It’s going to be a different challenge, and it’ll be interesting to see how much of that experience he applies on the four-month-long tour.
His contributions in away games are also shaping into an upward curve, with defining knocks on the recent-most trip to Australia, a country where he has enjoyed decent success against the red ball. He made just one fifty in four innings but looked in good shape as he teased fans with delightful starts, before clicking into proper run-making more in the home series against England.
As he gets older, Rohit’s competition isn’t just with himself, but also with a battery of younger opening options waiting in the wings. The Rohit-Shubman Gill pairing has left Mayank Agarwal out, a batsman whose scorching entry into Test cricket in 2018/19 saw him hit two double-centuries in his first seven Tests. There’s Prithvi Shaw, an immensely talented 21-year-old who averages 51.43 in first-class cricket and lost his spot to Rohit and Gill in Australia. At the same time, there are players such as Abhimanyu Easwaran and Priyank Panchal banging on the selectors’ doors, waiting for their domestic performances to be rewarded.
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Rohit has hardly ever cared about outside scrutiny. A player who’s a delight to watch any day of the week, he’s often crushed criticism by bouncing back in style. The challenges are plenty; while his questionable track record, the growing competition around him and the trial against a swinging red cherry won’t make his task easier, it does add another chapter to Rohit’s colourful Test voyage. If Rohit extends his home form on the arduous terrains of England and unlocks the same run-making hunger that lit up the 2019 World Cup, India’s chances in England will rise significantly.
On a personal note, it could change the way we remember Rohit’s Test career, still brimming with possibilities but still not completely compelling. If he manages to do well, it will comprehensively seal his Test stint for the coming few years, keep the youngsters out and probably extinguish a few long-standing India dreams. That said, it won’t be a surprise if he comes out shining, just like he pulled it off at different points in his career. It will be fascinatingly delightful if he actually does.
