DUBAI: The past six months have been perhaps the most tumultuous that Rohit Sharma would’ve experienced since 2011, when he was ignored from India’s World Cup team, which went on to win the tournament.
Having just led India to an exciting chase in a severely rain-hit Test against Bangladesh, the 37-year-old was being hailed across all quarters for having ushered the team into an era where the team had started playing ‘Bazball” too. And then, all of a sudden, it all began crashing down when New Zealand toured India for a three-match Test series in Oct last year.
A misjudgment at the toss backfired spectacularly-he chose to bat first in overcast conditions in Bengaluru -as India were shot out for 46 and went on to lose the Test by eight wickets. Jolted by the unexpected defeat, India ordered for square turners at Pune and Mumbai, but the Black Caps achieved a stunning, incredible 3-0 win. Amidst all this humiliation for India, Rohit’s poor show-91 runs in three Tests@15.16 was highlighted even more. The worst thing was that on a turning track at Wankhede, he perished to pacer Matt Henry for 18 & 11.
Things hit nadir in Australia, as all the veteran batter managed was 31 runs in three Tests@6.20. The signature, famous Rohit Sharma pull shot-he is perhaps the best puller in the game since Australian great Ricky Ponting- seemed to have deserted him, as the ball now travelled to the fielder’s hands inside the circle rather to the stands. A slight bit of extra bounce seemed to rattle him. The situation became so dire that he even had to drop himself from the XI for the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar series at Sydney. To add to his poor form woes, there were rumours of his differences with India head coach Gautam Gambhir, and intense speculation about his future, and even questions around his fitness, with many mocking his waist size.
After returning from Australia, Rohit played for Mumbai in a Ranji Trophy match at the MCA’s ground in BKC against Jammu & Kashmir, but his struggles didn’t seem to be over. He perished to J&K’s seamers for 3 & 28, though in the second innings, his form did show signs of making a slow return towards him, as he hit three sixes-one of them being the vintage pull shot.
However, leading India in their successful 2025 Champions Trophy campaign here, Rohit forgot all about his struggles with the red ball. Taking on the bowlers from ball one-an approach to his batting that he adopted in the team’s interest to lay a solid run-rate foundation on the slow wickets at the Dubai International Stadium here, he put up scores of 41, 20, 15 and 28 before the title clash.
It was a style of batting which didn’t go down well with legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar. “As a batter, are you happy with scoring 25-30 runs? You shouldn’t be,” Gavaskar told India Today before the final. The criticism was valid-for someone who has scored 11168 runs in 273 ODIs, the Mumbaikar is surely underselling himself by just being the enforcer. On Sunday night, Rohit showed what he could do by staying longer at the wicket, even if he was out in the 27th over. Rohit’s 76 off 83 balls against New Zealand won India the final of the 2025 Champions Trophy. He was the player of the final.
Talking to the media after leading India to their second white-ball title in two years, Rohit, while pleading the media to “stop spreading rumours that he was retiring,” said that batted with a bold approach purely as scoring with the old ball and with the spread out field has not been easy at the spinner-friendly DICS.
“I have not done anything different; I have been doing the same thing that I’m doing over the past 3-4 matches. I know how very important it is to score runs in the powerplay, because we saw in not only one or two games, but all five games, after 10 overs it becomes very difficult when the field spreads and spinners come on,” Rohit said.
Rohit asserted that for him, a 30-40 in a winning cause gives him more “happiness and satisfaction,” rather than personal success. He cited the 2019 World Cup in England, where he cracked five centuries, but India crashed out to New Zealand in the semis as something which didn’t give him much joy, as it didn’t result in a triumph.
“You may not see the consistency of big runs, but if I’m very clear in my mind about what I have to do. Then as long as I am very clear, I think it is pretty much okay. Today you saw that after 10 overs I changed my game a little. I wanted to play longer. But I went to put a bit of pressure and I got out. But again, you feel very happy when you win a match and when you contributed to it – It feels even better. I contributed a lot in the 2019 World Cup, but we didn’t win. So, it wasn’t fun. Even if you score 30 or 40 runs and win the match, you get more satisfaction and happiness. So, I think it was very important for me to do something and contribute and bring the team in a position where there is a little comfort for the rest of the batting order,” he said.
As a captain, Rohit has been flawless in the Champions Trophy-right from picking the side-pushing for Shreyas Iyer’s selection, selecting five spinners in the squad and four (including mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy for the last three matches was a masterstroke) in the XI, sending Axar Patel at No 5 and playing KL Rahul as the finisher at No 6, everything that he has tried has clicked. Since the time he took over the job full time from Virat Kohli in Nov 2021, Rohit is leaving a legacy of his own as a leader, having led India to four finals in ICC events, and winning two of them. There have been setbacks too, the Test defeats to the Kiwis and Aussies were bitter pills to swallow.
“You lose one series here and there, it doesn’t mean that the team is bad or things are not happening right, things are not going in the right direction. It happens, everybody is allowed to lose and we lost a series in India against New Zealand, the Test series. But that happens. It’s like every time we take the field, we are meant to win everything. But that is not going to happen. This is a sport that we play. There are opposition who are also trying their best to beat us,” Rohit said.
It’s not easy to lead the Indian cricket team, considering the weight of expectations surrounding it. However, Rohit makes it sound like it’s a cushy job. After his latest victory as a Team India captain, Rohit termed his side a “bloody good team.” “There’s not too much work that is done there. At the end of the day, you’re representing your country, and everyone understands that. So that is not where I come into play. My job is to make sure that whoever we pick to play gets the job done for the team. There is a lot of hunger, even for the guys who have played a lot of cricket. So, these things are not supposed to be taught.”
Giving credit to Gambhir and previous India head coach Rahul Dravid for the team’s success, he said, “It obviously is just not me. You know, a lot of the captains who’ve played before me, captained the team before me, a lot of credit goes to them as well. A lot of the coaches who have come before Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid and all of these guys – the credit goes to everyone. India is a bloody good team without a doubt.”
Regardless of when he retires-we should just enjoy his brand of cricket while it lasts-Rohit will be remembered as a bloody good batsman, a bloody good captain, who, like MS Dhoni, transformed India’s record in ICC tournaments. And above all, a bloody good team man.
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