It has to go down as a “December 8, 2021 moment” for Rohit Sharma; an. unforgettable day when the BCCI’s senior national selection committee named him captain of India’s men in blue team for ODIs and completed the process of a single person to helm in the white-ball cricket format.
The BCCI did not make any fuss about it while announcing the teams for the tour to Krugerrand for a three match Test and ODI series each. The one liner at the tail end of the press release, far from the likes of the imagination of an expert copywriter, was business like and terse. The 20 odd worded sentence said: “The All-India Senior Selection Committee also decided to name Mr Rohit Sharma as the Captain of the ODI & T20I teams going forward.”
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The import of the BCCI and selection committee was unambiguous that they were averse to have two strong individuals as captains for 50 overs a side and Twenty20. This call by the BCCI and the selection committee was coming anyway once Virat Kohli told the world through the twitter platform that he was down from Twenty20 captaincy after trying his luck in the ICC Men stepping’s World Twenty20 in the UAE, and that he would like to lead in the ODIs and Test format.
Well, the BCCI thought it otherwise.
It had named Rohit as Twenty20 captain first for the three-match home series against New Zealand (immediately after the failed campaign in the UAE) and then for the ODI series in South Africa.
While there was a sort of bad-blood scenario after Kohli was nudged out as ODI captain, Rohit had to pull out of the South Africa tour following a troubling hamstring. Injuries, minor to major, have hurt him, and he has missed 118 ODIs after his debut owing to a variety of reasons. He has also missed 30 Twenty20 internationals after making his debut.
His Test career took a lot of time to take off, again because of injuries. Going forward Rohit would have to wake up every day with prayer on his lips.
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He’s into his 35th year, and provided the limbs do not weaken, and he remains in form with the bat, Rohit has every chance of leading India in the home World Cup in 2023.
Rohit has begun his fresh stint as Twenty20 captain with scores of 48, 55 and 56 and scoring a 3-0 sweeping win against New Zealand at Jaipur, Ranchi and Kolkata. He played his last international match on November 21, 2021 and comes into competitive cricket after two and a half months and knowing that he will lead the side without three players struck by the Covid bug.
Captaincy in ODIs is not something that Rohit would not have a clue about. In fact he features prominently amongst the select list of twenty five who have had the privilege and honor of leading India in the short format of the game in which the team has been crowned as World Cup winners in 1983 and 2011.
The elegant Mumbai right-hander, a standout in the white ball variety, Rohit has led India in ten matches — from December 2017 against Sri Lanka at Dharamsala to February 2019 against New Zealand at Wellington.
With an eighty percent winning record in small sample size of ten matches, Rohit appears to be in good grip of the nuances of the 50 over format and has made the right moves in the field so far. As a batter he has been par excellent amassing 543 runs for an average slightly under eighty with one double century, one century and two half-centuries.
But he arrives into his 228th ODI at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad this coming Sunday (February 6 for the first match of the three-match series against Kieron Pollard’s West Indies) with an unclouded feeling that the BCCI and the national selection committee are looking upon him as the future white-ball captain, and most probably for the multi-day Test cricket too. The selection committee is expected to name the captain for the two Test series against Sri Lanka to be played in March.
Rohit follows two long time captains; Mahendra Singh Dhoni who led in 200 matches and Kohli in 95. Clearly Kohli was keen to lead in 100 matches and this particular wish is unlikely to be fulfilled.
Rohit though would not be lucky enough to near the numbers achieved by his immediate predecessors simply because age his against him. But he has a chance to emulate Dhoni who as captain won the Twenty20 and 50 over World Cups. And he will also hope to cross the 10,000 run mark in ODIs during his time as captain.
The BCCI and the selection committee would watch his fitness and form and leadership with keen interest. The opener across formats now commands respect because of his comprehension of situations and bat accordingly. He has given the freedom to the bowlers in internationals and in the IPL wherein he has worked with world-class bowlers, mostly fast men.
Rohit will have his own style, and typically in the mold a cricketer is raised in Mumbai. And a particular facet of his captaincy – giving calmness its weightage — has been seen by his fellow teammates, opponents and fans alike. He has earned plaudits for picking the brains of teammates. Rohit will have the advantage of having a bowling department that worked well under Kohli. Moreover, Jasprit Bumbah has been his long time linchpin at Mumbai Indians.
The coming days would be interesting times for Rohit; After the home series against the West Indies, Sri Lanka and South Africa, India will go to England to complete last year’s Test series at Edgbaston and then the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia. In between there will be the IPL. It goes without saying now that one of the most beautiful batter to watch in modern cricket will have his task cut out as a priority; and the watchword will be fitness and good health.
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