What does the future hold for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli?

The India captain Rohit Sharma gave an unexpected interview to the broadcasters during the ongoing New Year’s Test match against Australia. Speaking during the Lunch break on Day 2 from the Sydney Cricket Ground, Rohit addressed a host of issues that had been plaguing the Indian team in the lead-up to the final Test match of the Border-Gavskar Trophy.

Rohit shut down the speculation about him getting dropped from the SCG game and if Melbourne was the final Test match of his career. 

In his candid interview, the 37-year-old opener said: 

“Basically, the chat that I had with the coach and the selector was very simple: I am not scoring runs, I am not in form, it’s an important match, anyways the batting unit is struggling a bit. So, you can’t carry a lot of out-of-form players in the team. It was as simple as this and it was going in my mind. I was keen on telling this to the coach and the selector, I told them, they backed my decision.”

The Indian skipper further added: 

“Look, like I said, this decision is not a retirement decision. Nor am I going to step away from the game. I am out of this game because I am not getting runs. There’s no guarantee that I won’t be scoring runs five months later. We have seen a lot in cricket, every minute, every second, every moment, life changes.

I am confident things will change. At the same time, I have to be realistic as well. At the same time, some person is sitting with a mic, laptop or a pen and writing stuff, our lives do not change because of what that person is writing or saying.

We have seen the game for so many years. These people can’t decide when we have to go, when we can’t play, and when we can’t captain the side. I am a sensible person, a mature person, and father of two children. I have enough sense to understand what I want in life.”

When Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had announced their international retirements from the shortest format on 29 June, 2024, India were at the top of the world, having just won the T20 World Cup.

How things have changed in the last six months for the stalwarts of Indian cricket as they stand at the crossroads of their Test cricket career staring down the barrel.

The Indian captain has had a dreadful 2024 in Test cricket. In 14 Tests and 26 innings, Rohit scored 620 runs at an average of 24.76, hitting two centuries and a half-century.

Moreover, taking the 5-Test home series against England out of the equation, where his two centuries came, the 37-year-old has scored 220 runs in 17 innings at an average of 12.94. 

Rohit’s last Test fifty came in the second innings of the first Test against New Zealand – a series that India lost 0-3, the first time that India lost three straight Tests at home.

With scores of 3, 6, 10, 3 and 9 from five innings on this tour, Rohit has scored 31 runs at an average of 6.2 – the lowest batting average for a touring captain in a Test series in Australia (minimum five innings).

And it’s not just the low scores that are glaring but the manner in which Rohit has been dismissed. There’s no clear pattern to his dismissal except for the fact that he looks like a walking wicket now whenever he comes on to bat. 

And Rohit’s poor form with the bat has had an adverse impact on his captaincy too. With the defeat at the MCG, Rohit registered his sixth loss as an India captain in a calendar year, second only to Virat Kohli (7).

However, partly responsible for India’s dismal showing is also the poor form of the batting mainstay, Kohli, who from 11 Tests and 21 innings, has scored 446 runs at an average of 21.23 with one hundred and one fifty.

That one century by Virat was the unbeaten 100 he scored in the first Test in Perth – the match that India won by 295 runs.

If we take out that hundred then the ex-skipper has scores of 5, 7, 11, 3, 36, 5, 17 and 6, that is 90 runs in eight innings at an average of 11.25 on this tour.

And all of Virat’s dismissals in this series have come chasing deliveries outside the off-stump and getting caught behind either by the keeper or in the slips.

These repeated dismissals reflect the pressure Kohli is under to score and is resorting to scoring off deliveries that he would normally leave and this has resulted in more risky shots and edges.

When a batter is out of form and gets caught behind, the dismissal often reflects deeper technical and mental challenges caused by lack of confidence.

While in Virat Kohli’s case there seems to be some technical frailties that have crept into his game, in skipper Rohit Sharma’s case, the 37-year-old needs to fight the demons in his head. 

There is no doubt that both Rohit and Virat, in the twilight of their careers, are out of form, but having guided the Indian ship for over a decade now, I feel both these stalwarts still have a lot to offer to Indian cricket, at least for a couple of years. 

The Indian cricket team is currently in transition and at a crucial juncture. While there are reports that the Indian selectors might be looking for a fresh start. However, it will effectively require a balanced mix of nurturing young talent and maintaining a core of experienced players to help the youngsters adapt to the evolving demands of modern Test cricket.

Like Rohit Sharma said – “I am not going anywhere!” And for the betterment of Indian cricket, we don’t want two of our greatest players pushed out the door on the back of just one bad year.