Rohit Sharma
Cricketmania
By Venkatesh Raghavan
The switch of captaincy of the Indian team to play New Zealand in a home series for the three T20 fixtures and the first Test that is slated to be played in Kanpur is not to be read as any punitive action as per experts reading into the situation. It was cited that Rohit Sharma will take over from Virat Kohli for the T20 matches and also the first Test match between India and New Zealand. Virat who will be rested is slated to take on the top job as captain from the second Test onwards.
The BCCI observers disclosed that the Indian cricket team has been continuously exposed to international cricket fixtures since the previous August and players requisitioning rest will be permitted their well-deserved vacation. As of now, the Indian team’s continuous spree in the international formats of the game is second only to that of the English team. Sources in the BCCI also disclosed that the English team facilitated an uninterrupted stint of fixtures by using a split captaincy model.
However, with no One Day Internationals (ODIs) in place for the forthcoming home series against New Zealand, the selectors have decided to defer the decision on ODI captaincy till before the away series against South Africa in late December is set to commence. According to highly placed officials, “Virat Kohli getting relief from T20 captaincy should not send any wrong signals. It’s just a matter of time, when he assumes command over the longer formats of the game. Besides, the new head coach Rahul Dravid who has excellent track records in nurturing our Under-19 cricket team will have the task cut out for the new skipper Rohit Sharma.”
Yet, Kohli is indeed running through a rough patch of late by his standards. In 2020, in six test innings he could score just 117 runs at an average of a dismal 19.33. In 2021, his average was 29.80 and he could score just 447 runs in 15 test innings. He is unable to score any century from 2020 onwards and could score just one and 4 half centuries respectively in 2020 and 2021. Similarly in ODIs too, he could not score a single century in 2020 and 2021 till date but did have seven 50+ knocks in 12 innings. In T20 format since 2020, he scored five half centuries with 85 as his highest in 17 innings.
Rohit Sharma, the Mumbai lad who had an excellent run of five centuries in the previous ODI World Cup was also being groomed for captaincy while playing under Kohli as Vice Captain of the team, a cricket observer pointed out. At this juncture however, it’s not clear whether the BCCI will have a consistent approach akin to that of the English team, when it comes to adopting split captaincy.
As of now, India’s fixtures in South Africa that will include three Test matches, 3 ODIs and four T20 encounters have not yet come under the selectors’ scanner for picking the squad besides naming of captains and vice captains. Barring the crushing defeat the team suffered in the ongoing T20 World Cup, the Indian cricket team has performed far better than it used to in their previous away series.
It’s however, clear that the rotation policy that gets adopted by the Australians both in away and home matches, will get replicated by the Indian selectors to ensure that important players get adequately rested, as and when the situations get thrown up before any encounter.
