"His Test career is not as glorious as Virat's" - Aakash Chopra on Rohit Sharma's sudden downfall in Tests

Former India player Aakash Chopra has noted that Rohit Sharma's Test career has not been as 'glorious' as Virat Kohli's. He also pointed out that the Indian captain saw a drastic fall in his Test numbers in the second half of 2024.

India suffered a 1-3 defeat against Australia in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25. Rohit aggregated 31 runs at a paltry average of 6.20 in five innings in the three Tests he played.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener did a statistical analysis of Rohit's Test career and observed that it wasn't as distinguished as Kohli's.

"His Test career is not as glorious as Virat's because Virat has played 123 Tests and he has played only 67. He has been a bit of a late bloomer. He has scored 4301 runs at an average of 40.57 in 116 innings in those 67 games. Kohli's average, despite going down, is around 47," he said (5:30).

Chopra pointed out that Rohit has had middling returns in the longest format since the beginning of 2020.

"Let's start from 1st January 2020 till the end of 2024, which means the last five years. He has played 35 matches, Kohli played 39 matches and 69 innings, and he has played 63 innings. He has scored 2160 runs at an average of 36, which includes six centuries," he noted.

However, Aakash Chopra acknowledged that all six of Rohit Sharma's Test centuries since 2020 have come in winning causes. In contrast, only one of Virat Kohli's three centuries in this period came in India's win.

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Aakash Chopra on Rohit Sharma's year-wise numbers since 2020

Rohit Sharma endured an indifferent run in 2024. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted that Rohit Sharma didn't play a Test in 2020 and had impressive numbers in 2021.

"He didn't play in 2020. In 2021, he played 11 matches, 21 innings, and scored 906 runs at an average of 47.68 with two centuries. Not bad. If you go at an average of nearly 48, thumbs up, it will be considered a good year. So Rohit Sharma 100 percent pass in 2021," he said (7:30).

The cricketer-turned-commentator opined that Rohit's numbers in 2022 can't be judged since he played only two matches.

"He played only two matches in 2022. It's been a problem with him that he has been injured a lot. He has never played an entire series in Australia. In 2022, he scored 90 runs at an average of 30 in three innings. Since it's only two matches, it's too small a sample size to say that the year wasn't good," Chopra reasoned.

Chopra further observed that the Mumbaikar performed decently in 2023.

"He played eight matches in 2023 and scored 545 runs at an average of 41.92 in 13 innings in which he scored two centuries again. So 2023 was not a bad year. An average of nearly 42, you will have to say that it was okay," he elaborated.

The analyst pointed out that while Rohit had a good start to 2024, he had a horror run in the second half of the year.

"2024 hasn't been a good year. The first half was okay but the second half was extremely ordinary and it has become so ordinary that people have written obituaries. He scored 400 runs in the five-match series against England and that is why he has an average of 24 in 2024. He scored 619 in 14 matches. He struck two centuries here also," Chopra explained.

Aakash Chopra mentioned that Rohit Sharma repeatedly got out to seamers even during the home series against New Zealand and Bangladesh. He also highlighted that the 37-year-old's Test numbers have been ordinary in Australia and South Africa over the last five years.