“He had a quiet way about him, a walk and a talk that just wasn’t normal around here. He strolled, like a man in a park without a care or a worry in the world, like he had on an invisible coat that would shield him from this place.” – said Morgan Freeman’s booming voice in the film ‘The Shawshank Redemption.’
Just replace the word ‘Andy’ with ‘Rohit Sharma’ in the paragraph mentioned above. For a long time now, I have felt a strange connection with the Indian captain. I don’t know what. I can’t summarise it in words. Virat Kohli was the ideal first bencher. Well dressed, topper, disciplined, class monitor, role model – everything rolled in one. Rohit was always the relaxed back-bencher, laidback, lazy and most of the times, zoned out. He forgot things, wore a ‘don’t care’ look on his face and was always loved by one and all.
There was something else to Rohit as well. He knew his favourite subject all too well. Everytime he would step in the exam hall, he would switch himself on. The laidback, lazy back bencher took a back seat. Out came the fluent, flawless, immensely talented student. Each time the teachers looked at his answer sheets, they were amazed. ‘How does this boy sit on the last bench & camouflage himself’ they would ask. Rohit however continued to be the same with his smile turning into a grin.
Rohit Sharma in ICC tournaments has been an absolute beast. 2019, 2023, 2024 – you name one World Cup after the other and there came ‘Hitman’ at the top. He would decimate the best bowling attacks for fun, piling up runs and giving India strong starts. Captaincy only made him more responsible and he went about his business with calmness, precision and determination.
‘Mujhe sirf World Cup dikhta hai bhai’ – he said before the start of the 2023 World Cup on home soil. We all thought the Men In Blue would bring it home. And there came the ill-fated 19th November. Rohit went back to the dressing room after the match, wiping his tears and battling hard to stay unfazed. Who knew back then ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ was just six months away?
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Rohit made one phone call after the 2023 World Cup. Head coach Rahul Dravid decided to stay back for six more months on Rohit’s request. For every 19th November, there came a 29th June. The emotions overflowed. Rohit punched the ground, danced, hugged Kohli and made that iconic celebratory walk to collect the T20 World Cup.
Nobody (including Rohit) knew at that time that the year had just begun and the next redemption would take more than just a while. Rohit came back for the Sri Lanka ODI series, lost on Lankan soil, performed poorly against Bangladesh and New Zealand. India slumped to a humiliating whitewash against the Kiwis on home soil. Suddenly, the World Cup heroics seemed like ages ago and everyone started questioning him. Rohit’s captaincy was at stake and he needed his form back.
Rohit stayed back for the birth of his kid and could not join the Indian team for the first test against Australia at Perth. Led inspirationally by Jasprit Bumrah, India pulled off a sensational win. KL Rahul batted so well at the top that Rohit came to bat at no 6 in the next Test. Rohit played 5 innings in the Border Gavaskar Trophy and averaged only 6.20 before dropping himself for the final Test in Sydney. Much speculations were made, there were multiple dressing room leaks but one thing remained constant. The back-bencher’s belief. He kept on saying he had cricket left in him and became an easy target on expert panels and social media. Andy Dufresne didn’t lose hope though. He kept reminding himself – ‘Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.’
India announced the Champions Trophy squad after the completion of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Rohit was named captain again. The Australia series review meeting went on expected lines with Rohit being asked to share his future plans post the Champions Trophy. The ODI series against England began which was of course the dress-rehearsal for the Champions Trophy. Rohit failed in the first match. Another failure and hell would break loose.
Then came 09th February, 2025, a date Rohit is going to remember a long, long time. The venue helped him too. Before this match, he had scored 143 runs at an average of 71.50 with two fifties. Chasing 304 against a strong English pace attack, Rohit looked nervous and jittery at the start. Andy had started preparing for the jailbreak. He knew it would take time. He stayed put. The bat turned in his hand when he played his first scoring shot. Rohit clinched his teeth and continued to fight a tremendous mental battle. Getting to 50 saw a muted celebration as Andy started crawling for freedom.
The decisive moment came when he was batting on 88. Mark Wood pitched one up but this was vintage Rohit, the lazy, laid back bencher. Launched over wide long-on, front leg out of the way, hands through the ball, Rohit romped to 94. Century no 32 followed with Rohit stepping out and clobbering Adil Rashid for a huge hit over long off. Rohit now has the third highest no of ODI centuries against his name as an Indian, only behind the G.O.A.T.s, Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar.
‘Andy crawled to freedom through five hundred yards of shit smelling foulness I can’t even imagine, or maybe I just don’t want to. Five hundred yards… that’s the length of five football fields, just shy of half a mile.’ Redemption 2.0 was achieved after a lot of blood and sweat.
Rohit is not done yet. The world better watch out and remember a simple thing he said to Jatin Sapru – ‘Main kidhar jaa nahi raha bhai.’
Also Read: Bumrah question aside, India and Rohit Sharma look Champions Trophy-ready