Rohit Sharma may have just blown the opportunity of a lifetime. In a situation tailor made for him and many others to showcase their pedigree, Sharma and Rahane messed up. While many pundits may argue that Tendulkar's delayed retirement and sundry reasons led to a loss of confidence and destruction of great talent, my merciless assessment is that he doesn't have it!
For a cricketer that is 25 (around the age that Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag and others were hitting their high notes), Sharma sure does not demonstrate the hunger and desire to be a top class test batsman. There was a six in the 12 runs that he scored in the first innings. For someone searching for runs and under the microscope this defies logic. If Rohit does not have it in him to gut out and score the tough runs that test cricket demands so often, maybe we we're far too optimistic. Contrast that with Tiwary's innings and I have to believe that Tiwary is a nose ahead in the derby.
Test cricket is strange because it reduces the likes of Arun Lal and Mark Ramprakash to also rans. It takes the likes of Sehwag and makes them world class openers. But to get that opportunity players have to combine talent with hunger and intense desire. Rohit Sharma just doesn't seem to want it enough. Rahane can be forgiven because he is still not knocking that door down as urgently. Plus, Sehwag, Gambhir and Murali Vijay may be be the first preferences anyways. Sharma was and is that imminent next best thing waiting to happen. And somehow he's just not stepping up. Apart from that terrific CB series down under, he doesn't seem to have much to show anymore other than t20 mishmash.
From being his no. 1 fan, I'm now tired of waiting. And wait all of those apologists for Tendulkar's delayed retirement- it is time for the great man to quit. The team will find itself in due course, Sharma or Tiwary or whoever. Just like Gavaskar didn't wait for his second coming, there's no reason for Tendulkar to wait for a suitable replacement. In effect, Tendulkar may have implied that Gavaskar was selfish to retire while still being able to score runs and "serve". Sorry that was nasty, but it is essential defense against those that say that age is not the criteria, etc.
Overall the tour may be a mini success because it confirms Pujara's pedigree. It shows us our bowling options. Shami being the find along with a modest start for Darekar. Tiwary showed his willingness to gut it out although he didn't manage to get that game changing one. Sharma started reasonably with a 94, but didn't do enough.
The selectors have their data. Let's hope they make good calls.
2 comments:
I never understood the continued hype around Sharma in the first place. He seemed an exciting prospect when he initially came in, but over time and over multiple failures, he is just an average player(talented yes, but too lazy to put all his focus into his game and the shot selection always defies logic). Even Raina would be better fit than him, since he atleast tries to improve his game. Better to select Pujara, Rahane in that order ahead of him for the coming test matches.
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