The Sydney Cricket Ground may not be filled up to its entire capacity as Australia face India in the third Test of the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but it will not be short on emotions. And as Team India look to secure a second Test series win in Australia, the biggest question for them will be how to utilize Rohit Sharma.
A once in a generation talent who has rocked the cricket fraternity by his exploits in white-ball cricket. Bowler, venue, situations, you name them and he has got the better of them. But what about the oldest format of the game. Test cricket!
It will be safe to say that Rohit Sharma himself will agree to the fact that he hasn’t done justice to his name in the longest format of the game. But, one cannot simply push aside a batsman of his stature by blatantly denying that he is not good enough for Test Cricket. A player as natural and as flamboyant as the Hitman deserves a deep dive into his numbers. A statistical look at what sort of a batsman he has been in Test batsman.
Comparison with the white ball great
Firstly, Rohit Sharma hasn’t featured in Test cricket in the same frequency as he has in white-ball cricket. Since his Test debut which was on 6th November 2013, Rohit is at 12th when it comes to most Test matches played for India. Three out of the 11 players above him made their debut after he did. During the same time period, Rohit has played the third-most number of ODIs and most T20Is for India.
Since his Test debut, Sharma has been India’s fifth-highest run-scorer in Test cricket with 2141 runs in 32 matches. Above him are Kohli (6143), Pujara (4273), Rahane (4376), and Vijay (2943). On the other side, he has been India’s second-highest ODI and T20I run-scorer in that timeline. Second only to Virat Kohli.
However, runs per innings is an interesting way to examine if there’s a gaping difference between Rohit Sharma the Test batsman, and his version in ODIs. Since his Test debut, Rohit has scored 40.39 runs/innings in the longest format and 52.29 runs/innings in the 50-over format. This difference has narrowed considerably since 2017. From January 2017 to now, Hitman has stitched 56.29 runs/innings in Test cricket and 56.91 runs/innings in ODIs. Considering the fact that these have been golden years for him in ODIs, the results of this metric can come as a surprise to many.
Distribution and contributions
To analyze the versatility and consistency of a batsman, the ratio of his runs in foreign conditions to those in slightly more favorable conditions is one of the most universally accepted ways. While Rohit Sharma has played a good amount of his cricket in SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia), he hasn’t been able to score much there. In fact, Rohit is yet to cross the 300 run mark in any of these four countries.
When it comes to contributions in win/defeat, Rohit Sharma follows the straight-line route. He has scored 72.44 percent of his runs when India have won a Test match. He has averaged 67.60 in winning cause. It is quite the fact that in the 2018-19 Australia tour, Rohit was part of the India XI in both the wins (Adelaide and Melbourne).
But when it comes to runs in defeats, the 33-year old’s average falls significantly. He has only 322 runs in 16 innings during games that India have lost.
Where does Rohit fit in best?
Who am I to decide! However, if we strictly look at the numbers, the most obvious deduction is the wish of every Indian cricket fan.
It was only in 2019 that Rohit Sharma got to bat as an opener in Test cricket. Poetically, even in ODIs and T20Is, Rohit has had to rise from a lower-order batsman to an opener. A move that made him the white ball cricketer he is today. A move that can make him the red-ball cricketer that he wants to be.
The Nagpur-born batsman has batted in five different positions for Team India in Test cricket, but there’s little surprise that he has the best runs per innings as an opener. It was during the South Africa tour of India that Rohit really showed his colors wearing India’s whites. He scored 529 runs in just four innings that consisted of two centuries and a double century. And when Hitman scores a double hundred, you can be sure that he is in a good spot.
So, to conclude what has been a myth-busting experience for me as well as you (I believe), I’d say one can never be sure of having seen everything there is in the game. India will face Australia at a venue where they have only won once in 12 games. Rohit Sharma is almost certain to feature. Where? The answer to that question can and will decide the fate of this blockbuster series. And while doing so, it may also gift us and Rohit Sharma, what we’ve wanted for a long time now. Rohit Sharma being the HIT-MAN that he is, in Test cricket.
Image Courtesy: ICC
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