Rohit — breaking the shackles of self-doubt in typical ‘Hitman’ fashion

It’s impossible to even venture into imagining what Rohit Sharma must have gone through over the last four months. What started off as one low score mushroomed into two, then four, then a half-dozen. His form became an issue of national debate; every press conference, understandably, focused on the lack of runs. It came to such a pass that, unprecedentedly, Rohit sat himself out of the decisive Sydney Test at the start of the year, believing his form as it was then didn’t warrant a place in the playing XI.

Throughout this depressing phase, the 37-year-old put on a brave exterior. He wasn’t feisty or combative, lacing his answers with typical humour – his closest friends will tell you that no one is more capable of laughing at one’s misfortunes without rancour – but one could see that he was hurting. Not because his place in the side or his position as leader was under threat, never mind the scrutiny, but because he wasn’t pulling his weight as senior batter and captain, in that order. Or maybe not in that order.

There are times when, no matter how hard one tries, the stars align in such a way as to defeat the best-laid plans, to scuttle the best of intentions. Rohit left no stone unturned in his bid to rediscover his rhythm; he hit the nets uncompromisingly, he returned to Ranji Trophy cricket for Mumbai after several years in an effort to find run-making ways and to serve the side largely responsible for where he is today. With absolutely nothing to show.

Strong character

Rohit is a strong character, as one needs to be to thrive in the cauldron of unforgiving competitive sport. His pleasant exterior and a ready smile effectively mask steely inner determination and conformity to the high standards he has set for himself in white-ball cricket for over a dozen years, and in Test cricket since his elevation as opener in October 2019. As skipper, he believes in leading from the front, in setting the example so that there is no need for words and oral exhortations to his teammates to fall in line. These last four months must have been shattering, though at no stage did he question himself, question his ability, question whether the sands of time were running out on him.

Sometimes – actually, more often than one would think – bad things happen to good people. But then, the stars realign and good things happen to good people, too. As it transpired at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday night, in the second of three One-Day Internationals against England.

Rohit’s ten previous international hits, nine in Tests and the other in the first ODI last week in Nagpur, had produced a mere 70 runs, a highest of 18 and seven single-digit efforts, leaving his most die-hard fans wondering if… With the Champions Trophy a little over a week away, this was anything but ideal. The confidence that a return to 50-over cricket, which allows Rohit to be himself more than any other format, would trigger an instant turnaround had been dented in Nagpur where, like in Pune and Mumbai and Adelaide and Brisbane and Melbourne, his first mistake was destined to be his last.

Where others might have despaired, Rohit refused to be shackled in self-doubt. True, there would have been the inevitable gremlins – the Hitman is as human as any of us, never mind the sobriquet that paints the picture of a cold-blooded assassin (of bowling units and nothing else) – but to his credit, he didn’t allow them to germinate or consume them. He was seized of the need to arrest the slide, maybe even obsessed with that, but somehow, as he has done successfully over the years, he kept the emotion out of the equation, understanding that red mist and white-line fever have never been his go-to options in his 17 and a half years in top-flight cricket.

Near-perfect time

There is no such thing as the right moment to rediscover one’s mojo, but this was quite close to the perfect time, with India’s first Champions Trophy outing ten days away. The target was steep, 305, but if India got there, plenty of reward lay in store, including a seventh successive ODI home series triumph against the 2019 World Cup champions. 305 would take some getting, but it’s not a tally as intimidating as, say, even a decade back. Rohit could afford to take his time, if he so desired, because as history testifies, he is so effortlessly capable of bridging the gap between runs scored and balls faced, given the rich array of strokes at his disposal.

The Rohit of a half-decade back might have started carefully, if not circumspectly, got a few on the board and then decided to tee off, but that is not the Rohit of the last three years or thereabouts. A conscious move to take the fight to the opposition has been the calling card almost from when he was made the all-format captain in early 2022, and any other approach would have been out of character. Understandable, certainly, but not in keeping with the aggressive avatar the world has come to know and admire.

Whether Rohit toyed with the temptation of changing tack isn’t clear, but if there was any temptation at all, he swept it out of his mind space comprehensively. In just the second over of the chase, he bared his hand when he charged Gus Atkinson, an attempted aerial drive down the straight field skewing off the outer half of the bat to the point fence. One-bounce four. Hey, maybe the tide was turning just a bit. Maybe, the cricketing Gods had decided they had tried him enough, tested his resilience and patience. Maybe, they were pleased with what he had done when the drought spilled over from one innings to another, one country to another, one continent to another.

Whatever the reason, that four was the trigger for the carnage that followed. Atkinson’s next delivery was smeared over long-on for six and in the over that followed, Rohit deposited the first ball he faced from Saqib Mahmood over long-off, charging the bowler and reinvoking a template that had served him so outstandingly well in both the limited-overs World Cups split by seven months.

In the stands, they went nuts. If there has been one constant in these four or so months, it’s been the support of the fans, the energy coursing through their veins, the oh-so-visible desire to see Rohit return to form, the goodwill and the prayers of the average fan. It’s a far and welcome cry from the days when heroes were installed and brought down on a whim and a fancy.

In the dressing-room, there was a frisson. The sense that something special was on the cards, that the Hitman was back, swatting aside the impostor who had slipped into his body for so long.

Out in the middle, there was apprehension, a feeling of foreboding. England feared they had prodded a sleeping giant and there would be a price to pay. They were singularly clueless from staunching the bleeding, not a trickle but an unchecked spurt from different parts, facilitated by a broadsword here, a rapier there.

Shubman Gill wasn’t just an admiring bystander, but he knew his captain was on to a good thing. He knew that his job wasn’t to compete but complement. Not even a 35-minute interruption when one of the six light towers decided to act up had disturbed his skipper’s concentration, therefore it was incumbent upon him not to throw a spanner in the works. Gill played his part beautifully and was rewarded with enjoying the entertainment from the best seat in the town.

Entertainment it most certainly was. Rohit brought up his 50 in 30 deliveries, his 32nd ODI century in 76. He didn’t so much as stutter through the nervous nineties as race through it, reaching three figures with his seventh six, shimmying down the track to cart leg-spinner Adil Rashid way over long-off. As he accepted batting partner Shreyas Iyer’s warm embrace with equanimity, you wondered how this man had failed to score for these many innings. ‘These many’ might have only been ten, but they felt like a lifetime. As they must have to Rohit too, despite his outward calm.

India Rohit Sharma celebrates after scoring a century during the second ODI match between India and England.
| Photo Credit:
K.R. DEEPAK

There was no extravagant celebration, no leap in the air, no punch of the fist, no furious bat-waving, no blood-curdling scream to liberate any pent-up emotions. To most of the rest, it might have signalled the end of a barren run but to Rohit, it must have been further reiteration of the quality nestled in his strong frame. It must have been vindication of the processes he followed, justification of his faith and that of his colleagues in the permanence of his class. Nothing more, nothing less. To Rohit, the 32nd ton wasn’t an end in itself, just the means to a potentially glorious chapter in the desert sands of Dubai.

This century took Rohit to outright third in the list of centuries across formats for India in international cricket, ahead of Rahul Dravid (48). Only Sachin Tendulkar (100) and Virat Kohli (81) lie in the distance, neither of them catchable. Rohit will not lose sleep over it, nor will he gloat at moving to sole No. 3, because that’s not his style. He won’t celebrate having breezed past Chris Gayle to No. 2 in the list of ODI six-hitters, nor will it truly register that he is just 14 sixes short of sending Shahid Afridi’s all-time record of 351 into oblivion. He will leave that to the others; for him, it’s about making a difference and after a brief lull, that’s precisely the promise his 90-ball 119, 12 fours and seven sixes, has evoked.