Bashed by his own greatness

There is no one at the moment who can look down upon Rohit Sharma as a test match opener. Judging by the inconsistent start that he had, it was very fanciful to imagine 5 years ago that he could be as good as he has become in the longer format. It is funny that there are better limited overs batsmen than Rohit at the moment but none better when it comes to opening the batting in test match cricket. Nasser Hussain said years ago that if Rohit Sharma doesn't crack test match cricket, there is something not right with Indian Cricket. Someone said that test cricket needed Rohit more than Rohit needed test cricket. It is somewhat true because a limited overs superstar as talented as Rohit Sharma not succeeding at test cricket just didn't feel comfortable. 

    Harsha Bhogle has said this on commentary a few times that if Rohit Sharma plays two shots in the entire innings, you remember both. He is a unique batsman in so many ways. He is almost timeless. Nothing seems to hurry him up, not a yorker bowled at searing pace and certainly not a bouncer. He didn't really do anything in his first six years as an international cricketer apart from scoring 30s and getting out cheaply on a regular basis. Then MS asked him to open and he flourished in limited overs cricket. He is only second to Kohli since 2013 and at times better than him. Rohit is amongst the very few batsmen I have seen who can play with exactly the same technique in both the formats. Even after disappointing himself and the country so many times, he hasn't changed the technique and yet done extremely well at test cricket. When he didn't get many runs in South Africa in 2018, there were serious doubts on his future as a red ball batsman. With Shikhar Dhawan not really in the picture, asking Rohit to open was I think the last roll of the dice for him. If ever he could prove himself, it was this series. Again it made sense because of the immense success he has had in the shorter formats as an opener, it was only appropriate that he had a go at it. Rohit scored a doubly century and another ton in a one sided series win for India. With India 1-0 down to England at home, he produced one of the better hundreds ever seen on Indian soil to help India level the series in Chennai. He has been a heavy run getter in India all the time but then he got runs in England in 2021 which included a third innings century at the Oval in extremely testing conditions against Broad, Anderson and an in-form Ollie Robinson. 

     After a fiasco at the 2021 T20 World Cup and a bruising loss in the semifinal of the 2022 World T20, Rohit did regain his white ball form against New Zealand at home. But having not played any test cricket for almost a year, not many gave Rohit a chance against Australia in the first test. What he did on that pitch was simply spectacular. When no one else till that point seemed to have the measure of the pitch, he strolled out in the middle and started as it was no real deal to him. He smashed Cummins in the first 5 overs to give India the headstart and then steadied himself to play a fine knock of 120. It must rank amongst the top three knocks he has played for India. 

     Rohit goes about his business in an understated magesty. There is nothing about Rohit that is demonstratively great. He doesn't demonstrate his greatness with how he walks or how he talks or how he lives life. There are many great sportspersons who just let you know that they are great by everything they do. Rohit is almost shy of his own greatness. He is bashful about his genius. It looks as if it's not a part of his character and being great is out of his character. That's why he sometimes gives us the impression that he isn't trying too hard or he is being lazy about it. Well if you can say that a guy is making it look ridiculously easy when everyone else is hardly buying a run, that's the greatest compliment a batsman can be given. I get an impression that sometimes even he doesn't realize how special he is. For example, his knock in Nagpur was so perfect that when he tried to leave the first ball of the innings, he still middled it and got it away for a boundary. When Rohit bats, time seems to stop. His economy movement is just out of this world. He always seems to be in the right position to play any shot. The fact that he's not fat but he is certainly not thin adds a nice touch to it. He is conscious about his fitness but he is not a stereotypical champion with an aesthetically fit physique. He is just a raw talent which has been dazzling in front of world cricket for many years in the white ball formats and it's profoundly relieving to say that he has become a prolific test cricketer as well. It is still baffling beyond words and beyond everyone's understanding how he has played only 46 tests in 10 years. We hope to get to see a few more years of him as a test cricketer. 

Things looking grim & nasty for David Warner

    With just a solitary ton in the last 3 years as a test cricketer and an average no greater than 30 since 2021, David Warner is well on his decline as a red ball batsman. After three tours to the Indian subcontinent in the span of 10 years, he is still getting out to the same bowler in a very identical way. His reaction when he found out that the DRS has upheld the onfield decision of 'out' in the second innings in Nagpur was pretty telling. He kept looking at the screen and had a grim smile on his face as he walked back. Its one of the many cliches in cricket that its okay to get out to good deliveries. What is peculiar about David Warner is that he is not getting runs even on Australian wickets where he has historically produced runs as if it was no real trouble to him. He got a couple of scores of 90s in the Ashes of 2021-22. Apart from the 200 he got on the boxing day last year, he doesn't even have a fifty at home which is a really worrying scenario taking into consideration that the Aussies hosted the West Indies last summer. With all due respect, the Windies don't have a potent bowling attack to stop Aussie batsmen from scoring runs on true Australian pitches. Warner was getting out cheaply where everyone else didn't seem to find it difficult to bat. 'The Bull', as they call him in Australia, has always found a place in the touring Australian sides on the back of his performances in the home summer. As the numbers could tell, his record in England is almost as bad as his record in Asia.

    'Tired' and 'exhausted' were the words he used to describe his mental and physical state before coming to India. He does look mentally fatigued and short of confidence. If ever there was one thing you could use as a superlative for David Warner, it was his confidence. Even after failing miserably in England in 2019, he went back to Australia and scored the runs in the same attacking manner. Its predominantly a limited overs batting technique he has which works brilliantly on pitches where there is true bounce and carry. David Warner is brilliant driving on the up and with horizontal bat shots on both sides of the wicket. As long as the ball behaves itself, he gets runs and gets them quickly. When the ball starts doing something in the air or after pitching, that's where he has always struggled throughout his career. After watching him in the first test of the Border-Gavaskar trophy where he had two really short stays in the middle, I just got the feeling that he really meant it when he said that 2023 could be his last year in international cricket. He is very close to his family and ageing does make things different for a lot of sportsmen. By looking at the way he played Ashwin in Nagpur and with the pitches not getting any better, I really do fear that it's going to be a long tour of David Warner. He doesn't look comfortable when Shami is opening the bowling coming around the wicket and he just looks petrified of facing Ashwin. Even though Australia don't have a better replacement, I just have a feeling that Matt Renshaw could be opening with Usman Khawaja in the last test which could mean that David Warner might not make it to the end of this series.

    This is the same David Warner who smashed South Africa in the mighty 'G' on his T20 debut ages ago. This is the same David Warner who scored heaps of runs in South Africa in 2014 after a very successful Ashes series at home. This is the same David Warner who was banned from playing cricket by the ICC for a year and came back to find his place in all three Australian sides. There is no one denying that he is in the twilight of his career. He is 37 years old and short of runs. It won't be easy but I really do hope that Warner gets some runs in this series and makes it to England for the Ashes. Because watching a batsman as good as him go out on his all time low would be very painful as a cricket romantic.