Selfless Or Reckless: Has Rohit Sharma Become A Burden In T20Is?
Rohit has scored ducks in back-to-back games [AP Photo]
Good length delivery from Fazalhaq Farooqi and Rohit Sharma goes for a wild, unnecessary slog on the very first ball of the innings. The result - Stumps got rooted off and Rohit had to walk back to the pavilion for a golden duck and his second successive match without troubling the scoreboard.
The big question arises - What was the need for an erratic shot? Is that the definition of a 'selfless player'?. There is a thin line of difference between being selfless and being reckless, and perhaps Rohit got a bit carried away, trying to play with intent.
It wasn't as if India were chasing a mammoth total that the Indian skipper had to go for a wild slog right from the word go. With a target of just 173 on a flat Indore track, there was no need for blind slogging, and that was shown perfectly by Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who took calculative risks and reaped the reward for it.
Rohit's numbers in T20Is - a worrying sign for India
150 T20I matches, 3853 runs, with a strike-rate of 139.09. These are good numbers for any batter, but when you dive into the details, the reality will strike hard. When it comes to the big nations, Rohit has an average of 24.50 vs Australia, 34.06 vs New Zealand, a meagre 14.25 vs Pakistan, 34.16 vs England, and 28.00 vs South Africa.
For someone who started the T20I cricket with a lot of promise, Rohit has failed to deliver the goods when needed the most. Let us dive into his T20I World Cup stats.
Let us look at his T20 World Cup record
| WC Edition | Matches | Innings | Runs | Highest score | Strike-Rate | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 4 | 3 | 88 | 50* | 144.26 | - |
| 2009 | 5 | 5 | 131 | 52* | 122.43 | 32.75 |
| 2010 | 3 | 2 | 84 | 79* | 155.56 | 84.00 |
| 2012 | 5 | 4 | 82 | 55* | 130 | 41.00 |
| 2014 | 6 | 6 | 200 | 62* | 123.46 | 40.00 |
| 2016 | 5 | 5 | 88 | 43 | 107.32 | 17.60 |
| 2021 | 5 | 5 | 174 | 74 | 151.30 | 34.80 |
| 2022 | 6 | 6 | 116 | 53 | 106.42 | 19.33 |
Arguably Rohit's best T20 World Cup seasons came early on in his career. He used to dominate the bowlers and looked like a player cut from a different cloth. However, since 2012, the numbers have dropped considerably and once the reliable batter in the shortest format turned into a liability for Team India.
If looking at the last three World Cup editions, he has only mustered 377 runs in 16 innings, and has failed to stand up against the quality oppositions. Even during the last T20 World Cup, where the conditions favoured Rohit's game-play, he could only score a solitary fifty, and that too came against The Netherlands.
When Ajit Agarkar was appointed as the chief selector, it was expected that there will be some tough calls made. However, a couple of months into the new regime, it feels as if Team India has regressed, and the progression has somewhat being lost. Rohit is one of the finest players in the history of ODI cricket, but his gamestyle has dropped massively in the shortest format. He is no longer the same intimidating player that he once used to be. Has the time come for the selectors to make a tough choice and drop Rohit from the T20Is?
 "Anurag Dasgupta")
