Chennai: The question was simple and straight to the point. On the eve of Team India’s departure to Sri Lanka, when Rohit Sharma was asked to explain why he couldn’t replicate his ODI success in Test format, the query rubbed him the wrong way.
“What kind of question is this?” Rohit shrugged. “I’m a positive person and expected this media interaction to be positive. But it’s not happening. Anyway, you guys are doing your job. Go on,” he went on.
As someone who has two double hundreds in ODIs and had a head start to his Test career with two successive tons against the West Indies at home, it’s indeed a mystery why Rohit hasn’t been able to find his feet in the longer format.
His abject failure in both innings of the first Test at Galle has reignited the burning question whether skipper Virat Kohli was right in choosing the Mumbai cricketer over Cheteshwar Pujara for No.3, an important position once owned by Rahul Dravid.
The fact that the last time an Indian scored a hundred at No.3 came in the drawn Johannesburg Test of December 2013 speaks volumes about India’s struggle to find a suitable player for the position. When Pujara made three hundreds including a double in 2012 and scored as many in 2013, he was hailed as a replacement for Dravid. But the Saurashtra player hasn’t been in the best of form of late.
Rohit also began well as No.3 in the Sydney Test with a half-century, but since then he hasn’t touched double figures in three innings.
After losing the Galle Test, Kohli explained the rationale behind the long rope given to Rohit. “You have to back your best players who can be match winners. The reason why Rohit started getting more chances was Pujara’s poor form. It was a case of giving another batsman a chance,” Kohli said.
As M. Vijay is expected to make a return as an opener for the second Test starting on August 20, Kohli has a lot to ponder about his playing XI over the next few days.
