Captains need to lead from the front. In difficult away tours more so. At the moment neither of India’s captains, men or women, are doing the job. Rohit Sharma needs to score and do so in Brisbane while Harmanpreet Kaur has been consistently inconsistent for months now. It is time to ask the hard questions and also seek some accountability.
There is a lot of social media garbage calling for Rohit’s head. We know it is troll talk. But in all of it no one can miss the fact that Rohit isn’t performing. More, the way he is getting out raises serious questions about his confidence. Can he step up at the Gabba and lead by example? Should be come up the order again and open the batting? What should be his approach given that he is acutely short of runs? And is it impacting his captaincy? Each one of these questions need to be asked and should be asked. In fact, I was a little surprised to not hear Rohit address questions relating to his own form in the post-match press conference.
Make no mistake, he is the captain of India. For him team should come first. And that’s why he has to step up. Brisbane is his opportunity and perhaps the last one. If India lose in Brisbane the pressure on Rohit could well turn unbearable. He needs to believe that he can do the job and accept that he hasn’t been upto the mark. Spend time at the nets, get himself game ready mentally and step out at the Gabba in Brisbane in five days from now.
🚨Rohit Sharma PC: The door is very much open for Shami. We are monitoring him” – Rohit Sharma after the Pink Ball Test Loss! @CricSubhayan @BoriaMajumdar @debasissen @rohitjuglan #RohitSharma | #PinkBallTest | #BordergavaskarTrophy | #MohammadShamihttps://t.co/TiwnZlRWYY
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) December 8, 2024
In 2021, Ajinkya Rahane watched Sachin Tendulkar’s 1999 Melbourne innings multiple times before going out to bat in the Boxing Day Test. Captain Ajinkya’s hundred set things up for India. Sachin, in 2003, wasn’t scoring runs going into Sydney. At the SCG, he curbed his ego and scored an unbeaten 241 not out. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for Rohit to have a word with Sachin about batting in Australia. In fact, he can even walk up to Ravi Shastri and have a quiet word. Ravi was the one who got him to open and shares a superb relationship with Rohit. He is there as a commentator and a quiet dinner could help Rohit.
Coming to Harmanpreet, it is a problem that is deep rooted. She hasn’t performed in months and when it comes to important games, the team is always found wanting. The World Cup was a disaster and with another just under a year away, Harmanpreet should start to see the writing on the wall. Scoring in one home game in a home series against New Zealand can never be enough and between her and Smriti, India expect more. 100 all out in the first game and losing the second by more than 100 runs against Australia looks abominable and both captain and coach need to take accountability. While India need Harmanpreet the batter, we should surely ask the question if she is better off as a batter than as a leader? A home World Cup loss will push the game back further and the time to act is now.
While for Rohit it is Brisbane, for Harmanpreet it could be the next few months. Sport is about performance and both need to make it count or leave others to do so.