What does a successful series against West Indies mean for Rohit Sharma?

November 21, 2021. The last time Rohit Sharma played a competitive game of cricket, having led India to a 3-0 series win over New Zealand in the T20s. It's been a while for the Mumbaikar with a sudden injury keeping him out of the subsequent tour of South Africa.

Rohit Sharma has still managed to stay in the news though. And this is not just down to all the drama surrounding the captaincy saga that started with his sudden appointment as ODI skipper.

More specifically, it was the captaincy saga that started with the sudden removal of Virat Kohli as ODI skipper with the selectors opting for one white ball captain. And if that wasn't enough to keep Rohit in the news, Kohli stepping down as Test captain has put the former in the mix for that role as well.

All this, of course, in the midst of his batting direly being missed in the Rainbow Nation, where India conceded both the Test and ODI series. You could sympathize with Rohit Sharma had he been down with a bout of hiccups over these last couple of months!

But now he's back - fit and rearing to go at the helm of affairs as the West Indies await in Ahmedabad. It is a landmark game as well for ODI captain Rohit Sharma to officially take charge - Sunday marks India's 1000th appearance in the format.

The challenges ahead for skipper Rohit Sharma

Make no mistake, Rohit Sharma barely has time to catch a breath upon his return to the fold. Along with head coach Rahul Dravid, Rohit's sights will be firmly upon the two marquee world events lined up - the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 and the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023.

The first step in that direction, then, is to address a number of issues that crept up during the series loss in South Africa. That India's white ball batting approach has for long been an outdated one was masked thanks to their potent bowling attack.

However, the loss of the white ball attack's potency has opened up the batting frailties and exposed it at the surface level. Series losses in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in the 50-over format since 2020 have left a lot to be worked upon across dimensions.

Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul have scored consistent runs over time so it'll come down to a change in approach as opposed to personnel. How Rohit Sharma approaches this need for a more positive template on the batting front will be a factor under scrunity.

To that end, quite a lot comes down to his choice of approach with the bat in itself. Rohit is one of the all-time greats as far as opening batters in the 50-over format go. He has done so, mind you, by setting himself a fixed template while churning out the big runs.

An even bigger challenge, though, lies in balancing out the XI, something that has taken a major jolt ever since the fitness cloud has hung over Hardik Pandya. Venkatesh Iyer has been tried and discarded quickly enough and the latest to be thrown into the ring is Deepak Hooda.

Then there's the need to sort out the bowling composition. Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur have shown they are more than handy with the bat but are they the team's frontline bowling options? India might not be able to afford to play them both in the same XI and pace enforcers have to be the way to go.

To add further context, India need bowlers who can pick up wickets at regular intervals of time. With teams happy to sit on Jasprit Bumrah, the lack of pressure from his colleagues has allowed a happy opening to the batters to cash in upon.

The time's right then to veer towards quicker bowlers - bowlers who can break open the game by taking the pitch out of the equation. Those of the ilk of Mohammed Siraj and Avesh Khan bring that to the table, and while Prasidh Krishna isn't a finished product yet, he too has the knack for taking wickets.

Time, of course, will paint a clearerpicture, if Rohit Sharma wishes to move in that direction.

Clearly, there's a lot to work on and overnight results are far from realistic to expect. It is all but a long-term process but unless the seeds are sown now, life is bound to get tougher for Rohit Sharma and Co.

Of course, this statement is a cliched one. But the fact remains that it is the bleeding obvious and it is time for the execution to follow. After all, trusting the steps that aid a long-term vision to be fulfilled answers a number of questions - questions that are asked aplenty of the unit at present.

So what would a series win mean for Rohit Sharma?

Quite a lot! For starters, it would be a step in the right direction for India to plug its recent white-ball loopholes. But again, this comes with an asterisk - it isn't necessarily going to be a bed of roses if a series win fails to come with long-term solutions for existing problems.

A large part in that regard comes down to the aforementioned change in approach and combination. Most importantly, it would also need the West Indian team to compete and scrap in order to throw out a big challenge.

From Rohit Sharma's perspective alone though, victory in the series against West Indies will douse a lot of qualms. It would be the ideal beginning to his captaincy tenure, that has already come with a lot of white noise around it.

A series victory would be a win-win for skipper Rohit as well as the team. Why you ask? Well, with all that has been going around off the field, there is nothing that can put white noise to rest than results on it. It would be a statement of real intent from Rohit who already carries a reputation for being a shrewd tactician - something that his record in the IPL vindicates.

Yet this is international cricket and it is a completely different ball game. Rohit Sharma has certainly shown that he's cut out for the task whenever he has had the chance to lead India. But now's the chance for him to bring his vision to the white ball setup and translate it into a sleek unit.

Most of all, it would streamline the team's attention back towards the on-field action. As much as one might say that the off-field cacophony hasn't bothered the team, the fact remains that it is unavoidable. More so, in times of bio-bubbles and hard quarantine that tests the players to the T.

There is speculation over whether Rohit Sharma will take over as the Test captain as well. Rohit for one, has clearly mentioned that it is not his concern at this point of time and that it can wait. An ideal sign that from the skipper - focusing on the now and the white ball leg. In turn of course, the long-term vision becomes the automatic focal point from the point of view of the white ball formats alone.

This is the beginning of a new era in many ways. Instant success would be the perfect start to the same as India look to head in a new direction under Rohit Sharma.

The results that come with it will have a massive impact on the team of course, but most of all, it could boil down to the head of the ship. There's plenty at stake for Rohit Sharma alright, but there's also the chance for him to stamp his authority. Given that he's stepping in after the side's tough South African sojourn, he couldn't ask for a better time to take his first steps towards it too, could he?