Rohit Sharma Regains Dressing Room Trust and Overcomes Challenge: 'Welcome back, skipper. Missed you'

Class always outs. Sometimes, it might take a while, but the concept of "a while" can vary greatly depending on the circumstances. This was certainly the case for Rohit Sharma, whose journey to success took longer than expected. However, the timing of achieving success is subjective and cannot be defined by a specific timeline.

How long can ‘a while’ be? Less than four months, in Rohit’s case. But it’s been a difficult, demanding, trying four months where the runs simply wouldn’t come in Test cricket, whether he opened or batted at No. 6, never mind if it was against the red ball or the pink.

The string of poor scores blinded several to the class of the man, but the veil of apprehension and skepticism was emphatically ripped to shreds at the Barabati Stadium on Sunday night. Rohit chose a packed house in Cuttack to remind the Doubting Thomases of the permanence of class, with a throwback to the Rohit the cricketing populace has come to know and love and adore, a gathering force that buried England under the bulk of a 32nd One-Day International hundred.

His monumental 119, dotted with liberal skyscrapers that took him second in the list of leading six-bashers in 50-over internationals, was the captain’s first meaningful essay since knocking off 52 in the second innings of the Bengaluru Test against New Zealand on October 18. Between these two efforts, his scores read 0, 8, 18, 11, 3, 6, 10, 3, 9 (all in Test cricket) and 2 in the first ODI on Thursday in Nagpur – a grand total of 70 runs in his last 10 international innings, hardly befitting a player of Rohit’s quality and stature.

While the noise grew louder around him, Rohit remained largely unflustered, trusting his processes, retaining faith in his game plans, buoyed by his work ethic. Occasionally, like before the first ODI when he was asked about his future after the Champions Trophy, he lost his shirt – he wouldn’t be human if he didn’t let the run of cheap outs to affect him – but for the most part, he sought refuge in the confidence that it was only a matter of time before he turned the corner.

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For various reasons, Rohit couldn’t have picked a more opportune time to make his move. This three-match outing against Jos Buttler’s outfit, India’s first ODI games since August, will segue into the Champions Trophy beginning in a little over a week. Sitting on a 1-0 advantage, India’s target was steep – they were set a target of 305 to take their sequence of home series wins against England to a staggering nine. There was depth in the batting but hey, wouldn’t it be nice if the skipper could get a few away?

Rohit Sharma ensured there's no lack of respect for him inside the Indian dressing room

One of the worst feelings for a leader who has made it a habit of setting the example for his mates to emulate is that of letting his buddies down. Rohit’s volume of work has ensured there has been no dip in respect, reverence, even awe during the last four months, but he more than anyone else would have felt the desperate need to put a score on the board, just to reassure himself that the run-making beast in him is very much alive and kicking.

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Rohit could have chosen a different route to return to run-making, but that wouldn’t have been Rohit, would it? Especially in the last two and a half years, he has been a rampaging force in white-ball cricket, and he stayed true to character with a blistering onslaught that reduced England’s pace attack to nervy, gob-smacked wrecks.

The carnage started in the second over when he charged at Gus Atkinson and got a thick outside edge that skewed over cover-point for four. The next ball was nonchalantly swatted over long-on for six, and the next, from Saqib Mahmood, was creamed way over long-off. By now, the Barabati was heaving, Rohit was purring, like a cat that had dipped into a large bowl brimful with cream. Not even a brief interruption as one of the light towers played truant hampered the entertainment as Rohit surged into the ‘zone’ batters so crave but seldom attain.

Rohit didn’t hit his way out of trouble. He didn’t swing and hoick and slog and bludgeon in panicky hope. There was a method to his seeming madness. The black-soil surface discouraged horizontal-bat strokes, so Rohit relied on the conventional – inasmuch as 119 off 90, 12 fours and seven sixes can be conventional – as he targeted the straight field and didn’t cut or pull unless the ball was really, really short.

The last of his seven sixes, off leggie Adil Rashid, took him past his century. There was no flamboyant celebration, no furious wave of bat at the commentary box, no rant-laden punch of the air. Sanguine as ever, Rohit raised his bat, accepted Shreyas Iyer’s embrace and got down to business. In the dressing room, the lads might have said, ‘Welcome back, skip. Missed you.’

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