Can Rohit Sharma look back on his Test career and honestly say that he is content with what he has achieved? The answer has to be in the negative for given his prodigious gifts and the manner in which his career got off to a thundering start there will always remain the distinct feeling that he should have achieved much more, says Partab Ramchand. Rohit’s reputation as a great ODI player is intact – and, happily, he will continue to play for India in this format – but he could also have been a great Test player, Ramchand points out, convinced that he is clearly short of having reached that stature in the traditional format
It was as a 20-year-old in Australia that Rohit Sharma first caught the eye. Playing in the Commonwealth Bank Series in 2007-08, he impressed with his enthralling stroke play, innovative shots and big-match temperament. Hailing from the Bombay school of batting, the latter quality came naturally to him and soon even the severest of critics were running out of adjectives in hailing him as “the next big thing in Indian cricket” and “a youngster with a huge future”. At the time it was clear that Rohit and Virat Kohli had emerged as the front runners to succeed Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman who were in the evening of their careers. Even the stern Ian Chappell, not known to hand out effusive praise, marked him out a special talent and rated him even above Kohli.
For a considerable period though, Rohit was considered a limited-over specialist. Having made a name for himself as a member of the Indian team that won the inaugural T-20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007, he figured regularly in the two shorter formats. But the cry for him to be included in the Test team gathered momentum as time went on. Ian Chappell for one couldn’t believe that for four years after excelling in the CB series in Australia he had still not been elevated to the Test ranks.
Rohit certainly had the first class figures to back him. At this stage in 46 first class games he was averaging 63 with 12 hundreds including a triple hundred and a century in each innings of a Ranji trophy final – a feat last achieved by Sachin Tendulkar and only four others before him. Moreover, he was clearly the latest graduate from the Bombay school of batting which is based on big scores, an insatiable appetite for runs and technical excellence, along with the natural qualities of dedication, determination and concentration. And with his languid grace and chiseled stroke play, he made batting look so easy on the eye. It was felt that the longer version was where Rohit’s destiny towards greatness lay and the sooner he was given the break the better.
Finally, in 2013, six years after his debut in white-ball cricket, Rohit made his Test debut against West Indies in Calcutta and as if to make up for lost time, he hammered a rapid 177 in his first Test and a week later followed it up with an unbeaten 111 in his second. His entry coincided with the exit of Tendulkar and for some time he was the most talked about cricketer in India, overshadowing even Kohli. Clearly, he was no meteor for the runs continued to flow, and the big hundreds continued to be notched up. Over the following decade, Rohit and Kohli were the twin pillars of Indian batting, the biggest names in Indian cricket. Everything was going right for Rohit. He was elevated to the opening slot, displaying the flamboyance he displayed in the same position in ODIs and earned the sobriquet ‘Hitman’. He was also a natural successor to Kohli when the latter decided to quit the captaincy.
Over the past year though, little went right for Rohit, who had to endure a major slump in form. Since his 12th and last hundred against England in March 2024, Rohit’s tally was a meagre 164 from 15 innings with just one half-century. At 38, it was clear he had to take the crucial call and his retirement announcement was really not a major surprise even as he said he would continue playing ODIs, having already quit T-20 internationals.
An interesting stat is that all of Rohit’s 12 hundreds came in victories but a major point in favour of his detractors who dismissed him as a flat track bully is the difference between his home and away figures. At home, he was the king of all he surveyed, scoring 2,535 runs in 34 Tests at an average of 51.73 with ten hundreds. Away, the returns were far from impressive – 1,766 runs from 33 Tests at an average of 30.09 with just two centuries. And while the overall figures of 4,301 runs at an average of 40.57 are not to be scoffed at, the feeling of what might and could have been will always persist
(The writer is a veteran sports writer who spent his career working for The Indian Express and The Telegraph and Sportsworld. He lives in Chennai.)
from Webdoux