Time to move on from non-performing Rohit, Kohli; next WTC cycle should usher in dawn of a new Indian batting hierarchy
Has the time come for the Indian management to look past Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in Tests?
By the fourth evening, the fourth Test had gotten away from India. A victory was no longer on the cards, even if it was a possibility theoretically. On a surface that had slowed up considerably, to score at more than 3.5 runs an over on the final day was a tall order even for a form team full of attacking batters.
This Indian team is full of attacking batters. But is this a form batting line-up? Not by a long, long way.
By allowing the last pair of Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland to put on the highest partnership of Australia’s second innings, India’s task actually became straightforward – bat out 92 overs, earn an honourable draw, go to Sydney with the series level at 1-1. After all, to score 340 in that window needed something extraordinary, and India have been very, very ordinary with the bat this series.
Not even the brilliance of Nitish Kumar Reddy and the industry of Washington Sundar, both of which complemented Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 82 on the second day, could mask the glaring gaps in the Indian batting. The captain was horribly out of sorts, his predecessor had little to show outside of a second-innings hundred in Perth, and their talismanic wicketkeeper-batter seemed to have left his game-awareness back in the changing room. For India to come away unscathed from the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Monday, India needed serious course-correction from Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant. That didn’t happen, not for any extended length of time, hence a chastening 184-run defeat in the final hour that gave Australia a 2-1 advantage going into next week’s New Year’s Test at the SCG.
We shall get to Pant, him of the fatal scoop of the first innings when the field was set for that stroke, and a needless tonk of the second that opened the post-tea floodgates, at a later stage. Let’s focus on the elephants in the room.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli underwhelm
First, Rohit. There is no disputing that in a short span, he established himself as one of India’s ore inspirational captains, his exploits in the World Cups of the 50- and 20-over variety the stuff of legend. But in the last three and a half months, it has all been downhill. Since the New Zealand series in mid-October, specifically, his bat has gone cold, his captaincy has been uninspiring. He has moved up and down the order, and that too hasn’t paid off.
On Monday, he looked the best with the bat in a long while, moving nicely into his defensive strokes, looking to bat time, determined not to throw his hand away. It was refreshing to see him almost turn the clock back to mid-2021 and the Test series in England, where he dispelled all doubts about his efficacy as an opening batter in challenging conditions. Australia’s pacers collectively bowled as well as anyone has in this series – and that includes the other-worldly Jasprit Bumrah – which meant there was no let-up, no leeway, no loose delivery to ease the nerves.
For more than an hour and a quarter, Rohit played tight, close to his body. Then, Pat Cummins produced a full ball that swung late. As happens when the runs don’t come, Rohit’s flick produced an outside edge that was snaffled at the second attempt at gully by Mitchell Marsh. It completed a miserable run of outs this series; the captain has 31 runs from five innings. Since the start of the international home season in September, his tally is a miserable 164 from 15 innings. Simply not acceptable.
If Rohit’s been terrible, Kohli has only been slightly more productive. It might be no consolation but at least with the skipper, there has been no pattern to his dismissals. With Kohli, the waft outside off, no feet, to widish balls has come as regularly as night following day. It’s gone beyond being a pesky problem. It’s a serious malaise with no panacea in sight. No amount of work in the nets is paying off, no adjustment to stance and feet position is fetching results. If this is not a crisis, very few others are.
For the second time in the match, and the nth time this series, Kohli was out chasing a wide ball -- from Mitchell Starc -- he could so easily have left alone. What made it worse was it was in the last over before lunch. Double whammy, did you say?
Maybe they both believe they have plenty more to offer Indian cricket, but the majority opinion is that it might not be as Test batters. Sydney could be their farewell to the five-day game, no matter what transpires there, so that a new beginning can coincide with the next World Test Championship cycle and a five-Test tour of England in the summer.
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