Skipper Rohit Sharma’s form with the bat will be a key subscript in Brisbane Test

The beauty and brutality of Test cricket combine to make a fascinating study for anyone whose interest goes beyond just runs and wickets. Though intensity of contests between teams like Australia and India have come to have a script of their own, the battles that individual cricketers engage within themselves and with their opponents form some amazing subscripts. Indian captain Rohit Sharma’s batting form – actually, his lack of batting form – has occupied mind space of many and been the subject of quite a few debates. It has taken up reams of newsprint and invited millions of page views. Cricket fans and connoisseurs alike have been divided in terms of their readiness to wait for that one transformational knock.

Captaining a Test team in the winter of one’s career makes endless demands of leaders that they would have been hitherto unfamiliar with. With the grains of sand trickling down the hour glass, somewhat brutally in the recent months, the 37-year-old will somehow have to find magical calm amidst the raging storm.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni gave up Test captaincy, shocking the team and fans alike. Virat Kohli was relieved of the burden of Test captaincy after having led India to 40 victories in 68 Tests, the Board of Control for Cricket in India possibly having nudged the selectors to make that decision.  Rohit Sharma can determine his own fate with improved display with the bat.

There can be no doubt that a cricketer’s own form with the bat or the cricket ball has an impact on his captaincy. Nobody needs to remind Rohit Sharma that he has not reached double figures in as many as eight of his 12 Test innings this season. Nobody needs to tell him that he averages less than 12 runs an innings in the last six Test matches.

Many have interpreted his decision to bat at No. 6 in the Adelaide Test as selfless or not, depending on their perspectives. Yet, unmindful of all such perceptions, Rohit Sharma will have to untangle himself from the web that he seems to be caught in when it comes to his approach to batting.

It is perhaps an indication of his uncertain decision-making that he has been bowled five times and trapped leg before wicket once. His fans will hope that he would have had the time to analyse his recent dismissals and incorporate some error-correction, both from technical and mental perspectives.

Of course, two innings are not the best barometer to judge a cricketer, but he did come across as being quite under prepared for the rigours of Test cricket in Adelaide. He was trapped in front, playing outside the line of an incoming delivery in the first innings and was bowled past the outside edge of bat that was thrust forward with hope. 

It will be fascinating to watch if he has been able to acknowledge his recent failures with the bat but has not allowed negative thoughts to build a nest in his mind. Easier said than done, but he will have to believe that he can regain confidence with a more measured approach to batting in the matches ahead.

His challenge rises many fold since the team also needs his attention and inputs to bounce back from a miserable time in Adelaide. It could be tough for him to totally shut off external stimuli – and that will only be in addition to the internal conversation that he may be having himself. But he has to try and do just that as he prepares to carry lead the team in Brisbane.

There is no questioning his vast experience in Test cricket or his capability. But many in sport have discovered that the past has often been a poor predictor of the future. It will not be long before the National selectors are presented with a tough choice, no matter what the mandarins of the Board of Control for Cricket in India may have promised the skipper.

Some of the chaos has been unavoidable, with skipper Rohit Sharma staying away from the first Test and Head Coach Gautam Gambhir having to fly to India for personal reasons in the gap between the first Test in Perth and second in Adelaide. But now that the leadership group has had some time together, it will have to rediscover the mojo sooner than later.