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Follow UsJasprit Bumrah should be disappointed, mostly so with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
The ace paceman has done everything in his command to give India a fighting chance in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy but has been let down by others in the team, especially the two aforementioned senior men. It won’t be wrong to say that India are wasting Bumrah’s god-like form.
30 wickets across four Tests at an average of 12.83 and a strike rate of 28.2 - this is what Bumrah has done in the ongoing series. He has been almost unplayable, making batters look clueless, but it’s Australia who are currently leading 2-1 in the five-match series, with a game to go.
It’s not just this series. Bumrah has produced record-breaking numbers in 2024 - 71 wickets in 13 Tests @ 14.9 and a strike rate of 30.2. However, India have lost six of their 15 fixtures, including a series whitewash at home against New Zealand. The last time India lost six or more Tests in a calendar year was in 2018.
The Men in Blue came to Australia after suffering humiliation at the hands of the Blackcaps at home. It was under Rohit India lost all those three Tests. The batter from Mumbai made himself unavailable for the first Test in Perth due to the birth of his second child and the captaincy was given to Bumrah.
Nobody expected India to win in Perth, but Bumrah took it upon himself and led from the front, which is what you expect from a captain. The right-armer claimed eight wickets in the game and was named Player of the Match. It was not just him; India looked a completely different unit under him, and everyone forgot about the whitewash.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul clicked as an opening pair. Kohli scored a century in the second innings, while Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy made handy contributions in the lower middle-order. The likes of Mohammed Siraj and Harshit Rana also chipped in, giving decent support to Bumrah, but things changed once Rohit came back to the set-up.
India played aggressive brand of cricket under Bumrah, which hasn’t been the case under Rohit, who has often been blamed for being two defensive. The moment things don’t go in his favour, the 37-year-old goes clueless, and that’s exactly what has happened in the last three Tests in Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne, respectively.
Rohit’s captaincy hasn’t been up to the mark, but his batting has been even more terrible. The right-hander has been a walking wicket throughout the series. Rohit has scored one run more than the number of wickets Bumrah has claimed in the series. 31 runs across five innings @ 6.20 - this is the second-worst average for a top-six batter in a Test series against Australia in Australia.
That’s not it. This is also the fourth-lowest average for an Indian batter in an away series (minimum 100 balls faced) after Ishant Sharma (average of 4 in England in 2011), Anil Kumble (4.83 in Sri Lanka in 2008), and Ishant again (5.25 in England in 2018).
Rohit batted in the middle-order in Adelaide and Brisbane and then decided to move up the order after failing miserably. Rahul, who crafted 84 in Brisbane and looked the most assured Indian batter, had to sacrifice his position. All Rohit did was score 11 runs across two innings, and the move to No.3 also disturbed Rahul’s form, with him scoring 24 runs in the match.
India were set a target of 340 on day five of the MCG Test and needed their skipper and Kohli to step up, but the two once again failed to deliver. While Australian captain Pat Cummins once again owned Rohit, Kohli did what he always does - try to flirt with a delivery outside and nick it behind the stumps.
For someone who has been around for years and played more than 100 Tests, it’s almost embarrassing to keep getting out in one way. ‘Let’s keep bowling outside off and he will edge one behind the stumps’ - that’s the only game plan you need to dismiss Kohli these days.
The right-hander got that 100 in Perth, howbeit, India were already in a comfortable position by the time he walked out to bat. Apart from that, he has six innings in this series, and all the time he has gotten out nicking behind the stumps. Even if you are a fan, it has become impossible to defend Kohli.
You can’t be repeating same mistake again and again, but he did, Kohli made the same mistake in the final innings of the MCG Test. Mitchell Starc went full and outside off, Kohli brought out the drive and edged it to Usman Khawaja at first slip. Just 14 runs between Rohit and Kohli when their team needed them the most.
Instead of showing the way, the two stars once again put the entire burden on youngsters, which has been the case for a while now. Jaiswal, Reddy, Washington and Pant have shown far more resilience than the two senior pros. They have even adjusted their game depending on the conditions and situations, something Rohit and Kohli have simply refused to do.
While every other batter is going out of their way to help the Indian team, Rohit and Kohli have only pulled the team down in this series. At this point, there is no reason why the two should be retained for the fifth and final Test in Sydney, starting on January 3.
India’s qualification for the World Test Championship (WTC) final is no longer in their hands, and at some point, management will have to start thinking about the future. The Men in Blue have a couple of young batters in the squad and surely they can’t do much worse than Rohit and Kohli, who are averaging in the 20s this year.
The future we are talking about could start with the Sydney Test, with Bumrah at the helm. The same man who has not only bowled his heart out but has also been a lone warrior in the bowling department in almost every innings. But again, that’s not how Indian cricket operates, so don’t be surprised if nothing changes in Sydney, including the result.
