PLAYER DIARIES
Follow UsThere was a poignant moment in The Great Indian Kapil Show when the ace comedian asked Rohit Sharma to reminisce about the ICC Cricket ODI World Cup 2023. For a show that has breached all levels of comedy on Indian television, it was a surprisingly silent moment, with the Indian skipper being lost in a world that he wouldn’t want to go back to.
To say India deserved to win the World Cup would be a disservice to a gigantic Australian unit that put up a spirited display in the finale. But there was a case to be made - this time truly in favour of India - for the bravery they had shown and the paths they had chartered on their way to the November 19 event in Ahmedabad.
Rohit had the World Cup Trophy in his sights and would have been only the third Indian skipper to lift the coveted trophy. He did everything in his ability – as a batter and a skipper – to ensure things stayed in India’s favour. However, only in a utopian world do things go as planned.
That chance wasted; the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 is his final tryst with the destiny to end his career with another global trophy, having won it the last time in 2007.
Often considered a different beast than the IPL, India’s performance in World Cups often boils down to handling pressure in the knockouts. Barring the 2021 T20 World Cup, every time an Indian side have taken the field in the last 10 years - it’d be hard to find a day of bad cricket leading up to the knockout stage.
If the proverbial knockout pressure or the law of averages has something to do with such downturns, we have a simplistic answer. But for Rohit, who has been a part of six IPL-winning campaigns, the judgement is not as straightforward. It’s only about how he and his team utilize the IPL preparation to take home the trophy after a gap of 17 years. Yes, it is that long.
For a skipper widely successful in the toughest T20 league in the world, with five titles with Mumbai Indians, Rohit has largely stayed moot in the T20 World Cups without any valuable contributions. No one has played more T20 World Cup matches than Rohit’s 39, yet his average of 34.39 at a mediocre strike rate of 127.9 makes him a liability, more often than not.
There’s this school of thought that Rohit can bring his ODI form to the T20 World Cup and set up the base for India—but his form in the last two World Cups in the shortest format tells a very different story.
In 11 matches, the Mumbaikar has only averaged 26.36 while striking at 129.5.
But has he done well in the IPL? Not really.
In 115 matches since IPL 2017, the Mumbai Indians opener has an average of 25.5 and a strike rate of 130.3, with only 10 50-plus scores to his name. Unlike what public perception suggests, Rohit doesn’t get the team off to a good start in the powerplay either.
In the last eight seasons of IPL—a period marked by wild success for Mumbai Indians under his captaincy—Rohit has a strike rate of 127.52 in the first six overs with balls per boundary ratio of 5.03, among the worst there is.
Well, let’s go back to the argument that has often been cited in favour of Rohit that he could bring his approach of taking the team to good starts like he did in the 50-Over World Cup. Sure, but we already have a full season of IPL in between, which is enough to draw inference.
In the IPL 2024, Rohit managed 417 runs at a strike rate of 150, but he failed to cross the 30-run mark in eight of those innings. Almost 42% of his runs this IPL came in two innings.
In the last few years, Rohit has also become a significantly weaker performer against spin bowling, with a strike rate differential of -13 compared to his strike rate against pacers since January 2020. Virat Kohli also struggles against spinners—even though not as much as Rohit—so the duo partnering at the top will definitely be a concern.
If the management satiate that deal by having Yashasvi Jaiswal open, it will be a double whammy, exposing Kohli to spinners in middle overs. So, can they take the brave step of opening with Kohli and Rohit while letting Jaiswal bat at No.3? Your guess is as good as mine.
From whichever angle you look at it, one can conclude that Rohit’s inclusion in the T20 World Cup was more due to the leadership crisis the Indian T20 team have found itself in than a shrewd cricketing logic dictating the course.
But just like his effervescent knock in his comeback series against Afghanistan, India will hope Rohit can rise above the past record to own the legacy for himself.
For a career as remarkable as Rohit’s is in Indian cricket, it is only fitting if he goes down winning the 2024 T20 World Cup to call it a day from the shortest format of the game. His legacy rests on it - and he knows it more than anyone else.
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