Why Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli need to be asked questions ahead of the Australian tour?

Indian cricket is in the doldrums and make no mistake about it. No one would have expected New Zealand of all teams to end the winning streak at home. This isn’t to show any form of disrespect to the Kiwis, but they were just blanked by Sri Lanka just a few weeks ago. This gave Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli a great chance to show their wares with the bat. 

What happened has been beyond belief as the two Indian stalwarts have failed to fire with the bat. With the Test team in transition after a decade the onus was on Rohit and Kohli to fire India to huge totals on the board. They have done it before, haven’t they? In fact, Virat Kohli is the most experienced batter from India with over 9000 runs. 

If flowers are being handed during the highs, then it is the nature of law that bricks will be thrown during failures. With Indian cricket facing a massive crisis it seems as if a huge boulder is hurtling down the slope. Two players who have carried the burden of India’s batting across formats for a decade seem to hurtling down to steady decline. 

Different yardsticks for different players?

Take the case of Ajinkya Rahane, after his brilliant showing during IPL 2023, he was recalled to the Test team. The right-handed batter played a standout innings in the WTC 2023 finals against Australia and spared India the blushes. Rahane scored 89 and 46 in what turned out to be a huge loss for India. 

This was followed by scores of 3 and 8 during the next tour of West Indies which saw Rahane get dropped. It has been over a year since the man who led India to the Border Gavaskar trophy win in 2020/21 has played for India. 

Here is the question that the Indian selectors have to answer from the fans. Why aren’t the same yardsticks being dealt out to Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli? India’s captain has scored 91 runs from 6 innings with an average of 15. If we leave out his 52 in Bengaluru, his 39 runs have come at an average of 7.8. 

Virat Kohli has scored 93 runs from 6 innings with an average of 15.5 with the best of 70 which came in Bengaluru. Just like Rohit, the former Indian skipper has gone on to score 23 runs from 5 innings with an average of 4.6 if we leave out his 70 in the first game. 

These are numbers that need to be seriously looked at with the huge tour of Australia in the horizon. The likes of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood in particular are like sharks in the water. If they smell blood they will devour the opposition leaving no traces of fightback. 

Cheteshwar Pujara who has been a master of scoring runs in Australia was dropped and for the right reasons. But the 36-year-old, though has made efforts to get back into the team by piling on the runs in domestic cricket. This is yet another question the selectors have to answer. 

With Rohit and Virat now out of the T20I picture and ODI games being played less, why didn’t they force the duo to play domestic cricket? With the first game of the Duleep Trophy 2024 being held in Bengaluru, the duo could have got a feel of the conditions. The bowlers who were part of the game weren’t net bowlers, there were Indian bowlers or near international level. 

This series loss will soon be forgotten, and the form concerns of India’s batting duo will be swept under the carpet. Sadly, the pile of dust is starting to become a mountain. If the selectors don’t address this soon it is going to be a huge cause for concern. What was supposed to be an easy transition will soon turn into an uncomfortable change of guard. 

If dropping Pujara and Rahane can help the cause, then why are Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli any different? Both Pujara and Rahane can still offer a lot to Indian cricket after all they just play the longest formats. If there has to be a change of guard then the old gatekeepers must be given a look in. This series for all it's done has shown the mirror to Indian cricket and sadly the picture isn’t glossy at all.