World Cup 2023: Why spunky Rohit is critical for India’s title dreams

They call him The Hitman, and throughout the World Cup, Rohit Sharma has lived up to that lofty billing. Before Sunday’s game against England in Lucknow, the Indian captain had amassed 311 runs in five innings at an average of 62.2; more significantly, he had smashed 33 fours and 18 sixes while doing so, scoring at a strike-rate of 133.48 runs per 100 balls faced.

Rohit has recalibrated his approach to white-ball cricket in keeping with India’s avowed desire to take the game to opposition. As the opening batsman and the captain, he has taken it upon himself to set the tone, coming out all guns blazing from the get-go, taking calculated risks, unfurling his patented strokes including the breathtaking pull shot that traverses the arc between mid-on and fine-leg, and doing such untold damage up front that the task of the batsmen following him has become far too simple.

Rohit changes track

On Sunday, the conditions dictated that Rohit embraced a different tack. Against him was a versatile English attack that, despite its forgettable World Cup form, always carries the threat of destruction. Also confronting him was a sluggish surface that didn’t encourage hitting through the line or taking the aerial route, because such a method was fraught with risks and danger.

After winning five games in a row while chasing a target, India batted first for the first time, not an unwelcome development with the knockouts beckoning. As is his wont, Rohit began like a house on fire after playing out a rare maiden from David Willey, targeting the left-arm quick in his second over with a fierce four, charging down the track, over mid-on, followed by the trademark pull and an effortless shimmy towards the bowler followed by a full, free-flowing swing of the bat that sent the ball soaring over the straight boundary for another huge six.

Impeccable timing

It was Rohit at his imperious, unfettered, marauding best. The straight six was a tremendous statement of form and authority. The most striking aspect of that stroke is the timing of the charge. A fraction of a second too early, and the bowler can pull his length back or even pull out of sending the ball down; a fraction of a second too late, and the batsman can get into a tangle, getting too close to the pitch of the ball to get the needed elevation. To wait till the ball leaves the bowler’s hand, and then launch it into orbit, all this in the blink of an eye when the ball is coming at you at 140 kmph, needs a special skill. Rohit is gifted with all that and more.

In this World Cup, against Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bangladesh and New Zealand, Rohit has batted at only one gear – the topmost. That has been facilitated by knowing what the target is, and by excellent batting decks that have demanded dazzling strokeplay. In Lucknow, India had to set a total on a pitch of dubious nature – slow and sluggish, the pace unpredictable, the bounce uneven. It was hard to fathom what a good total would be, especially with the prospect of dew setting in in the second half when India’s spinners would be in operation.

To make matters worse, Rohit saw three of his partners depart in a trice, to ill-advised, adventurous strokes that were a definite no-no under the circumstances. With Hardik Pandya unavailable through injury and India rightly bolstering their bowling by bringing in Mohammed Shami for Shardul Thakur, it was essential that the top seven get the job done, but Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer all were victims of their desire to get on top of the bowling even if the conditions precluded that. Gill was bowled through the gate attempting an ambitious drive, Kohli and Iyer were culpable of falling to impatience and to being shackled by the discipline of the English bowlers with Willey and Chris Woakes giving nothing away.

Rohit understood quickly that he could no longer bat like Rohit of the previous four innings, that he had to bat as deep as possible for India to post a respectable total. On a track where the new batsman was guaranteed to be tested severely, it was in India’s best interests for a set batsman to bat for as long as possible. Rohit took it upon himself to do that job, readjusting his focus without missing out on any opportunity to stamp his undisputed stroke-production class.

Finds an alley in Rohit

In the heat of Lucknow – the temperature read 31 degrees Celsius but it seemed a lot enervating – Rohit alternated between preserving his energy and leaving nothing behind. When he opened his shoulders and smote the ball, he did so with mighty fine impact, sending it to the fence with minimum of effort. But when, alongside KL Rahul, he had to fall back on working the gaps and running hard in converting ones into twos, Rohit didn’t lag behind. He might not be as fit as he was even a couple of years back, but the run-maker in Rohit wasn’t willing to accept that. He might not run like the wind, but he is a wonderful judge of a run and together with Rahul, a willing ally in a fourth-wicket stand of 91, Rohit ran England ragged through intelligence and commonsense rather than brazenness and bravado.

In switching avatars and batting as per the demands of the situation, Rohit also sent out a clear message to his colleagues – that there are different ways to skin a cat, and that situational awareness is a must if India are to secure a third World Cup title. Some of the top order batsmen might not have heeded his example, but Suryakumar Yadav rose to the occasion by emulating his captain and rejigging his game to make a measured, yet attractive and counter-punching 49.

Rohit fell with a 32nd ODI ton and a World Cup record-extending eighth century his for the taking, but this 87, off 101 deliveries, was numerically worth more than three figures. It was both the stock and the shock knock, the cornerstone behind India’s 229 for nine. The tally might have appeared unintimidating but given the riches in the Indian bowling and the lack of spine in the English batting, it turned out to be a bridge too far. A 100 bridges – read runs – too far, actually. For once, despite Mohammed Shami’s four-for and Jasprit Bumrah’s three-wicket haul, no one was complaining that a batsman was named the Player of the Match. It was that kind of night, really.