Rohit’s poor numbers hurting Team India?

India captain Rohit Sharma moments after the defeat to Australia in the second Test at Adelaide. PIC/AP, PTI

When in form, India's Test skipper and opening batter Rohit Sharma is easily among the best in business - stylish, swashbuckling and flamboyant. However, in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, he has been far from that.

In fact, his numbers in his last 12 Test innings have been so poor, that if it was any other player in his place, he would have found himself not just out of the Test team, but far from even knocking that door of re-entry.

The reigning T20 World Cup-winning captain, who has played 12 Tests so far in 2024, scored two fine centuries and a half-century in the first quarter of the year. He made 131 in the first innings of the third Test against England which India won by a whopping 434 runs in mid-February. He followed that up a week later with a 55 in the second innings of the fourth Test at Ranchi, where India prevailed by five wickets. In the first innings of the next Test against the same opposition, Rohit achieved triple figures again, scoring 103 as the hosts inflicted an innings defeat on England in the fifth and final Test at Dharamsala in March. Thereafter though, Rohit's march into the big runs has been halted. He did score 52 in the second essay of the first Test against New Zealand at Bangalore in October, but it hardly mattered as the Kiwis won by a massive eight wickets.

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Between March 7 (when he scored 103 v England) and now, Rohit has played six Tests and his scores across the 12 innings have been 6, 5, 23, 8, 2, 52, 0, 8, 18, 11, 3, 6 - a terribly poor aggregate of 142.

Rohit's supporters may argue that he failed in the second Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series against the Australians at Adelaide because he batted in an unfamiliar slot, at No. 6, since he allowed KL Rahul to continue in the opening role; the Bangalorean performing brilliantly in that position in the skipper's absence during the first Test at Perth. Former India skippers Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri also believe that Rohit should get back to the opener's role for the third Test, beginning on December 14 at Brisbane.

With two Tests to go before year-end, Rohit too will be hoping to end 2024 the way he began it, with victories and some big runs under his belt. From India's point of view too, it's crucial, since his influential batting position could help the visitors return to winning ways and, with it, rekindle the hopes of a World Test Championship final place.