Sometimes, change is just what we need. Something different can awaken the senses and get us out of whatever rut we are in. Rohit Sharma is a man who epitomises this, a change of clothes bringing about a drastic turnaround in fortunes.
Changing out of his whites and into the blue of the Indian limited-overs side, Sharma’s game literally added a splash of colour to an otherwise bland Test canvas in the West Indies. We are dealing in extremely literal terms here, and the batsman’s performance in the two T20Is in the USA highlight his dilemma perfectly.
Now India are back on home soil and set to play several Test matches in the final months of 2016, starting with the visit of New Zealand this month. It is a crucial time of year, and Sharma is in desperate need of change when it comes to the woeful Test run he is on that leaves his position under threat.
Sharma is, however, a beneficiary. He has been retained in the 15-man Test squad with the intention of giving him an extended run in the side to prove his worth. Part of the squad he may be, but does Sharma deserve a place in the starting line-up?
LIMITED-OVERS MASTER
Sharma’s 28-ball 62 in the first T20I against the West Indies in Florida was a reminder of his aggressive batting and how he gets the best out of his game when he keeps things simple.
India eventually fell a single run short of West Indies’ total, but Sharma’s good start was vital. It illustrated his undoubted talent when given a licence to tee off from ball one. Sharma reads length impeccably and given the chance to throw his fast hands through the ball and rely on hand-eye coordination over footwork and technique, he can cause havoc.
To his detriment in Test cricket, it seems his skills are restricted to the limited overs formats. Sharma’s unsuitability to Test cricket were made rather painfully clear in the Caribbean as his two innings mustered 9 and 41 despite the rest of the Indian order enjoying their time against a poor West Indies attack.
Building an innings, handling swing, seamlessly converting an instinct to score runs into an instinct for patience – these are all attributes that seem absent or underdeveloped in Sharma’s batting.
Modern-day cricket selection benefits from a deeper talent pool, one that can draw on not just first-class cricket, but global franchise leagues also. More and more, cricketers are developing into masters of a particular trade, purpose-built batting or bowling machines with valuable skills suited for specific formats.
It is not uncommon to see two different teams in Tests and limited-overs games. It is simply a product of the times we live in, and Sharma is quite clearly suited to one and not the other.
It is a perfectly acceptable position to be in, but his inclusion in the Test side is anything but.
THE KOHLI REVOLUTION
The tactics of his captain Virat Kohli are the other factor affecting Sharma’s place in the side. Unlike Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay and even Cheteshwar Pujara, all of whose places have been under threat, Sharma is far more expendable.
All 7 batsmen from India Blue got more runs than Rohit. Rohit just getting the law of averages on his side before an important series.
— cricBC (@cricBC) September 11, 2016
This is not merely in terms of his vulnerability to being dropped on the back of poor performances, but also to being moved around the order. How much this affects his confidence is not clear, but it is worth noting that the other three have a fixed goal in their sights: either they play in their spots or not at all.
Perhaps batting at number six is the way forward for Sharma. His performances under Kohli are worse than under his predecessor – 521 runs in 14 innings at 43.41 under Mahendra Singh Dhoni versus 425 runs in 17 innings at 25 with just three fifties under Kohli – and shielding him from the harsh glare of the new ball may be just what he needs.
KL Rahul has performed admirably, scoring hundreds in both the recent Tests and the T20Is, giving him more cross-format appeal than Sharma and he seems unfazed wherever he bats in the order. It is tempting to view Rahul as Sharma’s complete replacement – younger, more eager to improve, more successful in Tests.
Indeed, if Vijay and Dhawan are trusted as the opening pair, there will rightly be no room for Sharma.
FIVE-BOWLER FIESTA
Perhaps when it began, the Kohli strategy of playing five bowlers looked like an experimental gimmick employed by a new captain to show us all, after the blunted negativity of the Dhoni years, how bold he was.
That it worked so well in both Sri Lanka and the West Indies appears only half-surprising at first.
Whatever the case, a string of home Tests set to last until March 2017 is the perfect time to kick on and demonstrate the long-term viability of the strategy. There is definitely much to be gained here, victories in boldness, style and identity being important potential gains.
This is what Chairman of selectors Mr. Sandeep Patil had to say about Rohit Sharma's selection in the squad #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/7iUWIcY6nR
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 12, 2016
This is the right time to think new, daring and cutting-edge, for erasing the fear of failure has been a big part of the Kohli mission and Indian cricket’s new mentality could be shaped by something as simple as the selection of five bowlers. It could become their trademark, their signature.
Again, this makes Sharma most disposable. His performances in the Test arena have not been consistently good enough, and he appears the first casualty in Indian cricket’s larger march to superiority over the rest of the world.
It’s ironic that a man who, while pushing thirty, regularly bats with youthful excess in the blue of his country but at the same time seems too far along in his career to fit his limited-overs success into the new dynamic of the Test team. But he shouldn’t have to and India must allow Sharma to excel where he does best and hand opportunity to others where he doesn’t.
The chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil’s intention of giving him an extended run in the side in the hope, rather than expectation, of translating his form into Test cricket bring the words ‘dead’, ‘flogging’ and ‘horse’ to mind.
