Think A Little More, Rohit Sharma!

Bhargav Dixit

Rohit Sharma walks back to the pavilion. [Source: AP Photos]Rohit Sharma walks back to the pavilion. [Source: AP Photos]

There are times when you fall short of words to describe a player’s good form. Then, there are times when you fall short of words to describe a player’s bad form. Unfortunately, one finds India captain Rohit Sharma in the second category.

With Sharma retiring from the shortest format and almost on the verge of retirement in the longest format as well, one was expecting him to do justice to his past reputation in the ODI format. As much as one wants to exercise patience due to the realization that the man is going to stay for at least five more ODIs, his form is compelling everyone to move on from him.

Similar Dismissals Hurting Rohit Sharma

Be it Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25, Ranji Trophy 2024/25 or the first ODI against England in Nagpur, the 37-year-old player has managed to gift his wicket to the opposition in the form of spooning the ball to a catching position whilst wanting to play a shot on the leg-side.

If truth be told, Sharma’s case is a bit perplexing right now. Diminishing fitness and reflexes usually slow down a player. For some strange reason, Sharma is hurrying himself on to these shots. As a result, the leading edge leading him back to the pavilion more often than not.

If someone offered me money to predict Sharma’s mode of dismissals lately, I would’ve earned a handsome amount without having to think twice. If truth be told, you don’t have to be a cricketing nerd or an AI expert to make a guess. It has become that obvious. That gloomy. Leave aside the dismissals, there’s commonality to expressions and reactions as well.

Flicking balls (even those bowled on the off-stump) aerially for sixes used to be a signature shot for Sharma back in the day. The first sign of an athlete’s strength turning into a weakness is the failure to execute stuff one used to do for fun during peak. As far as Sharma is concerned, that sign has become a habit now.

Rohit Sharma’s Stats Doing Disservice To His Repute

Since the start of India’s home season in September 2023, Sharma has scored 166 runs at an average of 10.37 across 16 innings which includes home Tests against Bangladesh and New Zealand, away Tests in Australia and a home ODI against England.

Among the 317 batters who have scored at least 100 runs in international cricket in this period, Sharma’s average is the lowest. Sharma hadn’t averaged this little even while needing some 80-ish matches to cement his spot in the Indian ODI squad. Yes, the average was worse, but Sharma didn’t come across as such a burden when he had scored 13 runs across five innings in Sri Lanka over 12 years ago.

With the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) keen on knowing Sharma’s future plans post ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Sharma shouldn’t do disservice to his years of toiling to achieve multiple milestones. At the moment, with milestones being thing of the past, all he’s toiling for are a few runs before playing a nothing shot to gift his wicket.