5 challenges for Rohit Sharma as India's ODI captain

“I have never seen someone time the ball better than him”. Virat Kohli had recently gushed about Rohit Sharma, conceding how every budding cricketer was jealous of the Mumbaikar’s stunning rise and subsequent entry into the Indian team a decade ago. Kohli was a virtual unknown then.

Five years after his debut, however, Rohit had lost out to Kohli when it came to sealing a Team India spot, and it looked like a career that had shown tremendous promise was on the verge of losing steam.

A further five years later, life has come a full circle for Rohit, who has been named India’s 24th ODI captain in the absence of a rested Kohli and looks to embark on a new journey post 30.

Here are five challenges that Rohit might have to encounter in his maiden assignment:

#5 Fixing middle-order woes

Manish Pandey has been one of the many options tried at No. 4

The Indian limited-overs batting has looked severely vulnerable in the middle-order, with the selectors playing a game of musical chairs to figure out who fits best in certain spots. Manish Pandey, KL Rahul, Yuvraj Singh, Kedar Jadhav and Dinesh Karthik have all been tried out, with Shreyas Iyer joining the T20I side, and now the ODI team as well. With impetus being given to a strong core in the lead-up to the 2019 World Cup, Rohit will have to make sure that the consistency stays as far as the thinking is concerned.

MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya, on the merit of experience and form, occupy two slots automatically, and with Rohit and Shikhar Dhawan opening the batting, three batting spots will have to be filled between Jadhav, Pandey, Karthik and Iyer.

It’ll be interesting to see who gets a look-in, especially at the vacant No. 3 slot.

#4 Figuring out the spin combination

Axar Patel is one of the three spin options for Rohit

With Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja having faded away from the limited-overs scene, the current toss up is between Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel to occupy two of the slots in the bowling line-up. Kohli has shown an affinity for Patel, who is a better bat than the other two, but Kuldeep has earned praise from all quarters, especially after his hat-trick against Australia, and Chahal has played his part in the middle-overs by taking wickets at regular intervals. Axar was the most successful of the three in ODIs during India’s visit to Lanka a few months back, while Chahal took three wickets in the one-off T20I that followed.

With a more high-profile South African series looming on the horizon, Rohit will have to figure out the ideal spinning combination, with talks in the background that Kuldeep might be vying for a Test spot with Jasprit Bumrah.

#3 The MS Dhoni conundrum

MS Dhoni has blown hot and cold in ODIs

MS Dhoni’s mindset as a batsman has changed: he isn’t comfortable coming in and immediately slogging the ball away, but takes his time to settle in before changing gears. In such a scenario, it is imperative that India’s best bet in the middle-order gets enough deliveries to see off the initial rust.

However, the former India captain has been shunted up and down the order to somehow get the team composition right, resulting in him being under pressure towards the fag end of the innings. The indifferent form of youngsters around him has made matters worse.

For Rohit, who found a new lease of life as an opener under Dhoni four years back, the time has come to figure out which is the best slot for the 36-year-old in the ODI set-up. With Kohli absent, a move up the order, with more deliveries to play, could be some food for thought.

#2 Winning despite experimenting

India haven't lost an ODI series since January 2016

A major reason why the Indian team have had the freedom to chop and change their composition at will has been their recent form in limited-overs games, including their run to the final of the Champions Trophy. Since their loss to Australia in ODIs early last year, they have emerged victorious in a line of series against Zimbabwe, New Zealand, England, West Indies and Sri Lanka, all with adequate amount of experimentation.

Rohit has the leeway to give youngsters a chance and experiment further, but he’ll have the recent track record at the back of his mind as well. Sri Lanka do not look intimidating on paper, but the new captain will have to make sure that complacency of any kind doesn’t creep into the system. A shock loss at this time could be detrimental to the team’s spirits before they travel to the rainbow nation.

#1 Balancing batting and captaincy

Rohit has been in fine nick since making a comeback

Rohit is a three-time IPL winning captain: ever since taking over from Harbhajan Singh and Ricky Ponting, he has made sure that the Mumbai Indians have been one of the most consistent sides in the IPL. The ascension, however, to Team India’s captaincy, is a different ball game, and the 30-year-old will be well aware of it.

“That's thinking too far ahead. I don't think too far ahead. When the opportunity comes, it comes. I will grab it with both hands,” he had said right after Mumbai Indians’ 2017 IPL win, when asked about his take on being India’s T20I captain.

A major reason why Kohli has been such a hit as India’s captain has been in the way he has upped his game ever since getting the skipper’s band. As captain, Kohli averages 74.51 in ODIs, as opposed to his career average of 55, showing how well he has managed to balance both captaincy and batting. Rohit recently came off a big layoff, and has been in scintillating form ever since. He’ll have to make sure that the additional burden of captaincy doesn’t affect his value at the top of the order.