Shamik Chakrabarty in Cuttack
The back-up generator continued to whir at the Barabati Stadium complex. The game had finished about an hour ago. The post-match fireworks were illuminating. The mid-game floodlights failure was depressing. The back-up generator was used to restart play after a 35-minute stoppage. It felt like an embarrassed Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) was doing overcorrection.
Out there in the middle, a turnout of 45,000 revelled in a Rohit Sharma show. The India captain’s international career seemingly had entered the twilight zone. At 37 years of age, Rohit withstood the test of sinew to make a statement return to form.
Another failure in the second ODI against England, and he probably would have reached the point of no return. That at least was the view from the outside. Rohit’s inner sanctum, the dressing room, however, was looking at things differently.
The expectations among the press pack here was a post-match presser from the skipper, on the heels of his 32nd ODI hundred (119 off 90 balls). Ravindra Jadeja came instead. The champion all-rounder had earned his stripes through another excellent bowling performance – 3/35 from 10 overs – on a flat pitch. And yet, conversations at the press conference centred around his captain. It had to be.
“The entire world might be after him (Rohit) but in our dressing room, there was no such atmosphere,” said Jadeja. “He is such a great player that he knows exactly how to build his innings.”
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India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak had said as much on the eve of the second ODI. The team believed that Rohit was just one good innings away from returning to form.
“It was just a matter of one good innings,” Jadeja doubled down. “As you saw, it didn’t even feel like he hadn’t scored runs in the previous innings. The shots he played were smooth and confident, just like normal strokes.”
Rohit needed to regain his mojo ahead of the Champions Trophy. Yashasvi Jaiswal’s inclusion in the ODI squad increased the pressure on him. More importantly, the skipper walking a tightrope wouldn’t have augured well for the team at a marquee ICC event. Jadeja agreed.
“Sometimes, it just takes one or two innings to turn things around,” he said. “The good thing is that, before an important tournament like the Champions Trophy, scoring a hundred is a huge boost. It’s great for the team, and obviously, he himself knows his game well. There’s nothing much to think or discuss.”
The senior all-rounder chose to look at the bigger picture. “If your top-order batsmen are scoring runs, you will always get a good start,” observed Jadeja. “In ODI cricket, if you get a good start in the first 10-15 overs, it sets the platform for the death overs, where you can capitalise.”
The 36-year-old himself was under scrutiny. The ongoing series marked his return to the ODI fold after the 2023 World Cup. With Axar Patel already in the set-up, questions were asked about having another player of the same variety. Jadeja responded by taking 3/26 in Nagpur followed by another three-wicket haul in Cuttack. This, however, he has done all his career. When the going got tough he got going.
“It feels really good, especially after almost two years — since the World Cup,” said Jadeja. “Coming back into this format requires quick adaptation, but I believe the domestic matches I played helped me a lot. In those matches, I bowled over 30 overs, which helped me maintain my rhythm. Even in Tests. I tried to maintain the same line and length in ODIs. The rhythm remained intact because the break wasn’t too long. So, I think playing domestic games benefited me in maintaining my rhythm.”
“You won’t get quality and experience in a supermarket,” Ravi Shastri used to say when he was the India coach. Rohit and Jadeja served up timely reminders.
Also Read: Rohit Sharma – ‘The Shawshank Redemption’