IND v SA 2nd Test: Onus on Rohit Sharma, a captain under siege, to bounce back

Since that fateful night in Ahmedabad in November 2023, nothing seems to have gone right for Rohit Sharma.

Till the World Cup final, the pundits regaled us with anecdotes about his ‘selfless cricket’ and his leadership with a human touch. But at the onset of the New Year, a peripheral former Indian cricketer (S. Badrinath) wants him replaced by Virat Kohli as Test captain. 

‘’Why is (Kohli) not the captain of the Test team? I want to raise this valid question," Badrinath said.

"(Kohli) is a better Test batter. There is no comparison between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. He is a big player in terms of Test cricket. He has scored runs everywhere. Why is he not leading and a weaker player?" he asked. "As far as I am concerned, (Sharma is) a weaker player who is not yet proven as an opener. He has been in and out. We can consider all of that. But I think Rohit Sharma has not proven himself as an opener outside India. Why is he there?’’ 

Surely, this former Tamil Nadu batter who has played in two Tests and seven ODIs is entitled to his own opinion on his Youtube channel—it would certainly give him a spike in views.

I'm not sure if Badrinath's strong words have reached Sharma. But such is the general context in which he faces the onerous task of pulling things back and levelling the series, as the second and final Test starts in Cape Town on Wednesday, 3 January.

Sharma's captaincy during the South African innings—where he allowed things to drift for a while and let the hosts build on their first innings lead, looking clueless against Kagiso Rabada in both innings—has seen no end of dissections recently.  

Yet, as someone who has been there and done that, Sharma surely knows that he is just one good knock away from stopping all the tongue-wagging. But at the same time, it has to be a collective effort at Newlands if India wants to turn the tide. 

‘’Games like these teach you lot of things. As the captain, you need to stay with the team on days like these,’’ a defensive Sharma said after the loss inside three days in the first Test.

There have been reports that the captain had immersed himself in extended batting sessions. With a rookie opening partner in Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sharma may be required to go against his grain to help India get the right start—it is so crucial to seize the early momentum.

Both Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer, who have now been assigned to positions left vacant by the rock-solid Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane respectively, need to also prove their credentials against the SENA countries (South Africa–England–New Zealand–Australia) consistently to show they are capable of filling those shoes. 

Team India's new ball attack, which was sending shivers down the spines of their rivals during the World Cup, no longer looked the same in the absence of Mohammed Shami. Jasprit Bumrah turned out to be the workhorse, Mohammed Siraj looked bereft of ideas while Prasidh Krishna was still coming to terms with the pressure of Test cricket. (They do say that Test cricket is the greatest examination of character.)

So what now? What could be an effective game plan over the next five days?

An important takeaway from Sharma's post mortem last time was that each batter has to walk in with an individual game plan on a demanding tour such as this.

‘’Each player has a different technique and at this level, it’s not about advising them to play close to their body or leave deliveries outside the off-stump. They should back themselves and have an individual plan. If you look at K.L. Rahul, who showed the intent and was still ready to put away the bad balls, that’s the perfect balance,’’ he said.  

If India need any motivation to bounce back, they need to look back only at their own heist in Gabba, in 2021, after that 36 all-out — with no Kohli available and a bunch of new heroes under the leadership of Rahane.     

Catch the match 

India vs South Africa 

Second Test, Newlands (Cape Town) 

Starts: 1:30 p.m. IST