It’s one of cricket’s many quirks that the format followed by the least people is considered the most important. And while captaincy in the white-ball formats is handed out like candy on Halloween, it remains a very big deal in Test cricket. Removing a captain in the middle of a high-profile Test series, especially one like the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, is almost unheard of. Yet, that could be Rohit Sharma’s fate when India take the field at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.
Because the team is in Australia, the local media will doubtless draw parallels to what happened with Kim Hughes exactly four decades ago at the Gabba in Brisbane. At the conclusion of the second Test – a fifth straight defeat to mighty West Indies – in November 1984, Hughes took a slip of paper out of his pocket at the press conference.
“The constant speculation, criticism and innuendo by former players and section of the media over the past four-five years have finally taken their toll,” he said in a choked voice. “It is in the interest of the team…” After a lengthy pause to regain his composure, he continued. “It’s in the interest of the team and Australian cricket.”
This time, the emotions overwhelmed him, and he could go no further. Looking back at Bob Merriman, the team manager, Hughes said: ‘You read it.’ He then walked away. The golden boy of Australian cricket would play only two more Tests.
The circumstances were very different though. Hughes was leading a team that had fallen apart after the retirements of Greg Chappell, Dennis Little and Rodney Marsh. He was also unfortunate enough to have to play away and home series against West Indies in the space of 12 months – an experience that would have broken most.
Rohit, till recently, was presiding over a team that was cruising towards a place in a third successive World Test Championship (WTC) final. In June, he had lifted the T20 World Cup, seven months after suffering [50-over] World Cup final heartbreak in Ahmedabad. Till the wheels came off in the home series against New Zealand, neither Rohit’s captaincy nor his batting were even up for debate.
But five defeats in six Test under his leadership, and a miserable tally of 164 runs in the last 15 visits to the crease has completely transformed perspectives. After the limp surrender in the final session in Melbourne, the team is under siege, and Gautam Gambhir’s short and snappy responses to certain queries at the pre-match media briefing said as much.
Will we now see a repeat of what happened after the Harare Test in September 2005, when Sourav Ganguly was unceremoniously deposed under a new coaching dispensation led by Chappell? For half a decade, he had been a hugely popular and widely admired captain, credited with transforming Indian cricket’s fortunes away from home.
He was also revered for his willingness to do what was best for the team. One of the great ODI openers, he gave up that spot so Virender Sehwag could slot in. He also dropped down the order in Test cricket, at considerable cost to his own numbers. In 38 innings at No.3, where he made his Lord’s debut, or No. 4, Ganguly scored nearly 2000 runs at an average of 57 – the numbers of a legend. At No. 5 or No. 6, he averaged less than 40.
More than one current player has spoken of the sensitivity with which Rohit has often handled tricky selection issues. Late in his career, he was also willing to brave the new ball in Test cricket, a job he did with some distinction till the recent slump. India’s questionable selection calls during this series – leaving out Shubman Gill to include two ‘all-rounders’ that hardly bowled in Melbourne being the most recent – cannot be laid at his door alone.
Many in this squad have come into their own as Test players under Rohit’s leadership. And while a losing side is seldom a happy one, the cloak-and-dagger manner in which Rohit appears to have been deposed doesn’t send the right message to younger players or anyone else.
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