England vs India 2014: Time for Rohit Sharma to prove his mettle

Rohit Sharma celebrates his maiden Test century against the West Indies

Rohit Gurunath Sharma, undoubtedly one of the most talented batsmen India has produced in the last few years. He oozes batting talent. He has the luxury of that extra bit of time to play any kind of ball which most of the batsmen lack. He is known for his variance of strokes and the way he can play a similar delivery in different ways.

The young Mumbai lad first came into the limelight in the inaugural World T20 competition held in South Africa, in 2007, with a winning half-century knock against the hosts and a brilliant game changing run-out. After playing ODIs for almost two years, he was considered a permanent fixture of the Indian limited-overs squad for the next decade by the experts. But because of his inconsistency, he lost his spot in the ODI and T20 teams.

He was not named in the 2011 World Cup squad. When he was recalled for the West Indies tour after the World Cup, he made some brilliant performances and that yielded him a spot in the next series against the same opponent but this time on home soil. After these performances he suffered a downturn.

Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina who came into the team after Rohit as reserve batsmen have cemented their places with some excellent shows. Rohit was still hanging around for his turn. After some better stagings in the Ranji Trophy, Rohit was called as a cover for VVS Laxman, who failed to recover from an injury during the Test series against the Proteas. Unfortunately, he hurt himself playing football just an hour before the start of the match and eventually lost his chance to debut and also place in the team.

Eventually in 2013, he was given a chance to open the innings along with Gautam Gambhir in the 4th ODI against England at Mohali. It all came together in this match for him, the ploy to open the innings with R G Sharma turned out to be a masterstroke when he found his form scoring a half century in the winning cause. From there he went on to play a key role in India claiming the Champions Trophy, and then went into overdrive in the series against the Australia scoring two centuries, including 209 being the second highest individual score. He became only the third batsmen after Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag to score a double century in ODIs. This performance accorded him a place in the farewell Test series for Sachin Tendulkar against West Indies and he responded well to the call.

In the first Test at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, when Rohit came out to bat for the first time on debut, India were in a precarious position of 87/4. Opportunities do open up in the toughest format of the game and Rohit grabbed it with both his hands. Not only did he score a century and record the second highest score of 177 by an Indian on debut but lifted his team to an innings and 59 run win giving a lead of 1-0 in the 2-match series. Again, in the second match he scored the 2nd century of his Test career with the help of tailender Mohammed Shami and helped India register a win and clean sweep the series bidding a grand adieu for the master batsman. He became only the 5th batsmen in the world to score back-to-back centuries in his first two innings.

Later, he failed to do well in South Africa against what was a quality pace attack led by Dale Styen. He did not fire in New Zealand as well, scoring only one half-century in the Test series. But he continued to perform well in the limited overs side. As MS Dhoni has decided to go with 6 batsmen, 2 all-rounders and 3 bowlers in England, the Mumbai Indians captain has lost his place to Rahane as specialised batsman. Now as Binny has not performed well, Rohit might get a chance to play as a specialised batsman in the 3rd Test against England at the Rose Bowl, Southampton.

If Rohit makes it into the playing eleven, it is really a litmus test for him. He has to prove his ability, determination and calmness. He needs to respond to the call of his skipper and play the key role like Laxman did for years in the lower middle order. As Dhoni and Kohli are not performing up to the mark, it is a real prospect for Sharma to help India make big scores and take charge of the match as early as possible. He will be there in the crease most probably by the time the 2nd new ball is available and he has to stand against the odds of Anderson and Broad who will surely try to fire up and take revenge for the loss at Lord’s. He needs to save his wicket and build partnerships with Rahane, Dhoni, Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to give India the lead.

Rohit is anticipated to do well in the swinging conditions and prove that he deserves the place in the team more than Stuart Binny. If Sharma can execute the plans well and accomplish the task at hand, he will surely be a part of the playing eleven in the series Down Under. Failing to utilize this opportunity might even put his Test career in danger. Rohit has to perceive the importance of this match and innings. He need to perform better and demonstrate that he is a far better batsman than what he is now. So it is “time for Rohit to prove his mettle.”