The curious case of Rohit Sharma

Wrong to doubt his pedigree.

When Rohit Sharma came into the scene in 2007, he was seen as the next best thing and rightly so. He was one of the highest run getters in U19 World Cup in 2006 and impressed with his maturity and class. As a result, he was selected in the young side for the inaugural T20 World Cup and showed early signs of why he was being rated highly with a crucial half century against SA in an all-important clash. He continued to impress in Austrailia in the tri-series with important and classy innings and impressed the likes of Ian Chappell.

But that promise somehow hasn’t yet completely materialised into something substantial. He did have a good series against West Indies in 2011, both home and away and was Man of the Series. He also played a sparkling innings against Aussies in T20 World Cup in Windies when others failed miserably, making a sublime 46 ball 79. He has had to constantly fight for a spot against the likes of Raina and Kohli and has been edged out lately by both, though even his critics feel he is more talented then them.

In spite of being so talented, he has somehow become a laughing stock lately among spectators, constantly being rubbished on the social media. I myself have done that, but never have I doubted his talent. In his defence, there are many points. First, I feel is that he hasn’t been managed properly by the team management. He has batted up and down the order and never been given a fixed position. If you see his performances in IPL, he has performed exceptionally and the reason behind it is that he has a fixed position at no. 3 and has a well defined role. Mind you, in U19′s, where he performed so well, he was batting at the no. 3 position too.

He has the knack of finding gaps and has that extra time when he plays his shots, which is a great quality to have. Also, he plays the short ball well, a quality which is rarely found in Indian batsmen. These are the reasons why selectors and Dhoni have kept on backing him. It’s good to give backing but the other thing they need to do, is to define his role clearly. Also, he is a brilliant fielder and can bowl occasionally. Another thing that has hampered his growth is the injury, which he got just hours before he was to make his Test debut. I think that playing Test at that stage of his career could have taken his game to next level. I think India needs to take a cue from the way Australia handled another immensely talented player, Damien Martyn, who like Rohit, failed initially and did not do that well.