Vizianagaram, Sept 25
Rohit Sharma will begin a last-ditch effort to save his start-stop Test career with a trial run in the unfamiliar opener’s slot when he leads the Board President’s XI in a three-day warm-up game against South Africa, which begins here tomorrow.
The national selection committee and the team management have decided to promote Rohit as an opener due to his attractive strokeplay. India’s next five Tests — three against South Africa at home and two against New Zealand away early next year — could make or break the 32-year-old’s Test career. He will open with Mayank Agarwal for the Board President’s XI, and the two will look to strike an understanding before the first Test, which begins in Visakhapatnam on October 2. From the Indian point of view, the second player to watch with interest in the game is fast bowler Umesh Yadav, who has been drafted into the Test side as the replacement of the injured Jasprit Bumrah. Yadav, who played the last of his 41 Tests in late 2018, will be keen to rattle the likes of Faf du Plessis and Aiden Markram in order to make a statement.
Potential great
But the focus will undoubtedly be on Rohit. One of the modern greats in the white-ball format, Rohit’s average of 39.62 in 27 Tests, including three hundreds, doesn’t do justice to his potential.
Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and the fast-rising Hanuma Vihari consolidated their middle-order slots with impressive performances on the recent tour of the West Indies, and the only remaining option for Rohit was to bat at the top of the order. The three-day game against the quality pace attack of South Africa — comprising Kagiso Rabada, Vernon Philander and Lungi Ngidi — will be a good dress rehearsal before the opening game in Visakhapatnam. Rohit’s technique against the moving red ball has been suspect, but making him an opener is an inspired gamble that Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri are willing to take, keeping Virender Sehwag’s stupendous success in mind.
Other options
If it clicks, this will be considered a masterstroke; but if it doesn’t, there are several opening options coming up, such as Shubman Gill, Abhimanyu Easwaran and Priyank Panchal. And, of course, KL Rahul and Prithvi Shaw, who have opened for India with success, would be keen to make a comeback too.
Even if Rohit does well on the low and slow Subcontinental tracks, there’s no guarantee that he would be able to replicate that success in New Zealand early next year when India tour for two Tests. There the swing bowlers make life very tough for the opening batsmen. The road ahead will be a tricky for one of India’s finest ODI openers as the next six months will decide his fate in the game’s longest format.
