'It's your life, make it large', goes a popular tagline. It may well be Rohit Sharma's mantra, too, these days, if his form is anything to go by.
His stint as Team India captain may not have started on a bright note as India slumped to an unexpected loss in the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Dharamsala almost a couple of weeks ago. But, in a span of 12 days, things have have changed and how. Hosts India have been on a rampage against the hapless Lankans and the stand-in skipper has played a sterling role. First, it was the 208* in Mohali—his third double hundred in ODI cricket and the only cricketer to score three double centuries. Then, nine days later in Indore, he equalled the record of fastest Twenty 20 International century as he blitzed to a 35-ball 100.
The records aside, going by the sheer pace of his scoring, he has convinced everybody that a double century in the 20-over format was a possibility. If ever the phrase 'on song' held true, it was when Sharma was batting in these two matches.
This was not an exhibition of sheer brute power. The range of strokes all around the wicket, the timing and the elegance on display had the cricket world swooning over the 30-year-old. The fluidity of his strokes makes him a cut above the rest of his contemporaries in Indian cricket—at the moment.
Speaking about his approach to batting post the match in Indore, Sharma said, “I don't have so much power, I rely on timing the ball more than anything else. I know my strengths and weaknesses. I try and play to the field a lot, to be honest. Once the field is spread after six overs, I try and see where is the boundary option. I want to score all around the park, not just in one area. For me, it's important to sort out the fielding set for me by the opposition. Hitting in one area can make you predictable.”
Perhaps, the best praise came from another batting maestro who loved playing devastatingly long innings. “Mazaak bana rakha hai yaar. It aint this easy yaar,” tweeted Virender Sehwag. The former India opener would know exactly how difficult it is to play a long innings. But the two are poles apart in their batting styles. Sehwag was all hand-eye coordination and timing, with a rock solid defence.
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Rohit's talent and potential raised the expectation levels when he made his ODI debut in 2007. But the Mumbai batsman's career has been far from smooth. A delightful knock was interspersed often with a couple of insipid performances but all that changed in 2013, when skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni asked him to open the innings. The first two ODI double hundreds followed the year after. Since 2013, Sharma has scored five 150-plus scores and three double centuries in ODIs. He has 16 ODI hundreds till date.
His Test career started much later though, in 2013 and he has just three Test centuries in 23 Tests so far. While Sehwag's ability to adapt his game for the long format reflected in his batting record, Sharma is still trying to find his feet in the Test side, which has multiple vacancies in almost every position in the batting order. It is not that he does not have the ability to persevere in five-day game, as evident from his Ranji Trophy exploits and his record of scoring centuries in his first two Test innings. But a flourishing Test career still eludes him.
Sharma realises that with Team India's bench strength growing by the day, he has to make each opportunity count. “There was a lot of pressure after the loss in the Dharamsala ODI. We were staring at the possibility of getting bowled out for our lowest total ever. After that, I was thinking so much about captaincy, and how all this is so difficult. Pressure is always there regardless of the opposition. Pressure of one billion people is there. I was captaining India for the first time, there was so much pressure. Even if we win, every match is important. When we play in Mumbai, there will be pressure. I don't know when I will captain India next. So, for me, every match, every series, every moment on ground is very important.”
