Sports
Rohit Sharma’s Test captaincy faces its first huge test
It’s been a little over a year since it officially began, but has the Rohit Sharma era as India captain really begun at all?
It’s made a spluttering sort of start in Test cricket: Rohit missed three of India’s five Tests since he became their all-format captain. Injuries, in fact, have forced Rohit to miss eight of India’s last 10 Test matches. He was Player of the Match in India’s last Test before this stretch of games, a landmark victory that took them to a 2-1 series lead in England, months after they had beaten Australia 2-1 in Australia.
Since then, India’s world-beating aura has faded somewhat – they lost Tests they could have won in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Birmingham, and won one they could quite conceivably have lost in Dhaka – and Rohit has mostly been an absent figurehead.
He has had more of a chance to make an impact as a white-ball captain, and his overall results have been fantastic. Rohit has the best win-loss ratio of any India ODI captain who has led at least 10 times in that format, and only Hardik Pandya, who has only captained in 11 matches, sits above him on the corresponding T20I list.
Reaching the semi-finals of the 2022 T20 World Cup a year after exiting the same tournament at the group stage could be seen as a significant achievement for both Rohit and Rahul Dravid, who took over as head coach after the 2021 tournament. But it wouldn’t be lost on either of them that, for all the gains India made as a T20I side between the two tournaments, particularly in terms of batting approach, the same failings cost them in both 2021 and 2022.
Dravid knows from experience that tournament results end up defining captains, and that one bad tournament can cancel out the goodwill earned via bilateral results, especially in white-ball cricket. He could be remembered as the captain who turned India into a world-class chasing team in ODIs, but it’s likely that far more remember him for leading India to a group-stage exit at the 2007 World Cup.
Process dominates cricket discourse far more in Rohit’s era than it did in Dravid’s, but results – specifically results in “big” games and tournaments – eventually come to define the tenures of captains, coaches and selectors.
That Rohit succeeded Virat Kohli was itself, in part, down to a sense that he would be a big-tournament captain, and India had been starved of big-tournament titles since 2013. At the time he took over the white-ball teams, Rohit had just won his fifth IPL title as Mumbai Indians’ captain, and there were three ICC trophies up for grabs in the next two years.
Tournament results are, of course, heavily dependent on how good a team is relative to the competition, the format – one or two bad days are enough to send a strong contender out of the T20 World Cup at the group stage than they are to prevent one from reaching the IPL playoffs – and luck.
When teams win, though, the complicated story of their success is often simplified, and retold with the captain cast as some sort of all-knowing, benevolent mastermind. In the media, this premise is usually backed up with player testimonials – it’s a fresh surprise each time players in winning teams say good things about their captains, no doubt – rather than any analysis of how this superhero captain’s decision-making differed from that of other captains in similar situations, and no one ever asks whether the same team, filled with so many other winning ingredients, could have just as easily won with a different captain.
For whatever it was worth, then, Rohit came to the India captaincy with something of an aura. Now, just over a year since becoming all-format captain, there are threats to his leadership in every format.In T20Is, the threat has a name. Hardik has captained India in every T20I they’ve played since the World Cup semi-final against England in November. Rohit scored a scratchy 27 off 28 balls in that match, and he hasn’t played a T20I since. Now this is mostly because India are building up to an ODI World Cup and are looking to rest their senior players from T20Is, but it’s not inconceivable that one or more of the young top-order contenders who are now getting their chance could make themselves exceedingly difficult to leave out by the time T20Is become top priority again.
The future of Rohit’s ODI captaincy, meanwhile, could hinge on whether or not India translate their status as favourites for this year’s home World Cup into actually winning it. It’s an unfair amount of pressure, but it is what it is.
His Test captaincy, of course, has barely begun at all.
It’s against this backdrop that Rohit will lead India in one of Test cricket’s highest-profile contests. The 2016-17 Border-Gavaskar Trophy was perhaps the greatest Test series India has hosted this millennium – yes, arguably even greater than 2000-01 for the range of quality performances from both sets of players – a series where Australia made them reach into their deepest reserves of skill and stamina to complete a 2-1 comeback win.
The Australia of 2022-23 could be an even better collection of players than the one that toured in 2016-17, and could be an even better team if they address one key structural issue – the seeming lack of a quality second spinner.
India will, as ever, begin the series with a formidable spin attack and, despite the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, a group of quicks who are often deadly in home conditions. The batting will give them a few more headaches: India will be without Rishabh Pant’s genius and – for the first Test at least – Shreyas Iyer’s counterattacking flair against spin. This is a worry because they’ve been India’s best batters in subcontinental conditions since the start of 2021, a period in which Cheteshwar Pujara has averaged 34.61 in Asia and Virat Kohli 23.85. Rohit’s red-ball rhythm, meanwhile, is a bit of an unknown, since he hasn’t played a Test match since March 2022.
For all that, India should still be favourites, but if you’re an India fan and your normal pre-series anticipation is tinged with a sense of nameless dread, it could be because of this: R Ashwin is 36; Rohit, Pujara and Umesh Yadav are 35; Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja are 34; and Mohammed Shami is 32. Ishant Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane, both 34, may already have played their last Tests.
It’s fallen upon Rohit to captain India’s most successful generation of Test cricketers when they’re ageing at the same time. Managing this transition could be an exceedingly tricky task, and quite a lot of it – what can a mere captain do, for instance, to unearth successors to all-time greats? – is beyond his control, but it’s one other thing he’ll be judged on, for better or worse.
The Rohit Sharma era, then, could be a short one. And if this series against Australia – upon whose outcome hinges India’s qualification for the World Test Championship final – doesn’t go to plan, it could threaten to end before it’s even had a chance to properly begin.
(cricinfo)
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s philosophy of living by the sword and dying by it led them to their second successive defeat, against Delhi Capitals in Vizag. Mitchell Starc picked his maiden T20 fifer to keep SRH down to 163 despite Aniket Verma’s six-hitting exhibition in a 41-ball 74 before the DC top-order chased it down with 7 wickets and four overs to spare.
Where the match was won?
SRH were hamstrung in the PowerPlay with four dismissals. They got six more than Delhi Capitals did in this phase but it was the repercussions of this phase that led them to an under-par total.
The PowerPlay difference
| Parameters | SRH | DC |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 58/4 | 52/0 |
| Run-rate | 9.67 | 8.67 |
| 4s/6s | 7/1 | 4/3 |
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Powerplay: Starc removes top-order
Phase score: 58/4 [RR: 9.67, 4s/6s: 7/1]
Pat Cummins became the first captain this season to bat first after winning the toss but his high-flying top-order was quickly dismantled by Mitchell Starc. Abhishek Sharma was run out after a mix-up between the openers after which Mitchell Starc took out Ishan Kishan, Nitish Reddy and Travis Head by the fifth over. With that, since IPL 2024, Starc has 8 wickets in 11 overs against SRH in PowerPlay. SRH should’ve been five down before the end of the PowerPlay, but Abishek Porel put down a catch to offer Aniket Verma a reprieve.
Middle-overs: Aniket flies but DC retain control
Phase score: 82/3 [RR: 9.11, 4s/6s: 4/6]
Aniket flexed his muscles against DC’s spinners, starting out by hitting Vipraj Nigam for a six and a four in the seventh over. In the next over, he tonked Axar for two successive sixes and also went after Mohit Sharma. Heinrich Klaasen then welcomed Kuldeep Yadav with a straight six to press on with the fifth-wicket stand. They took the team past 100 by the halfway stage but DC hit back through an excellent catch from Vipraj Nigam that sent the South African back. Kuldeep and Axar then bowled three excellent overs, conceding just eight in it. Aniket meanwhile got to his maiden IPL half-century and went after Axar once again in a 17-run 15th over.
Death overs: Starc bundles out SRH with fifer
Phase score: 23/3 [RR: 6.27 4s/6s: 1/1]
Aniket departed in the 16th over chasing another big six, falling for a 41-ball 74. Starc then came back to quickly wrap the innings up in the 19th over, dismissing Harshal Patel and Wiaan Mulder. While SRH finished on 163, the Aussie quick walked away with figures of 5-35, his first fifer in T20 cricket.
Delhi Capitals
PowerPlay: SRH toil in wicketless phase
Phase score: 52/0 [RR: 8.67, 4s/6s: 4/3]
Faf du Plessis and Jake Fraser-McGurk started well, taking on all four of the bowling options that Cummins threw at them in the PowerPlay. Harshal Patel bowled a good first over but Cummins himself was taken apart for 13 runs. Shami started well but erred in his second to let DC control the game at the start of their chase.
Middle-overs: Zeeshan Ansari strikes thrice but DC march on
Phase score: 98/3 [RR: 10.88, 4s/6s: 9/4]
SRH’s young leggie Zeeshan Ansari picked three wickets but it didn’t alter the course of the proceedings as the hosts galloped along towards the target through different batters. Du Plessis got to a 26-ball half-century while McGurk too showed urgency before falling to the spinner. DC had 96 on the board at the halfway stage, being comfortably ahead of the asking rate. KL Rahul marked his DC debut by smashing Shami for two fours and a six in the 11th over. Abishek Porel then walked out and seamlessly carried on with the run-making, hitting Ansari for a four and a six in the 14th over. DC got to 150/3 in 15 overs, with only 13 more to get at the death.
Death-over: Six balls to wrap it up
Phase score – 16/0 [RR: 16.00, 4s/6s: 2/1]
Porel went after Wiaan Mulder in the 16th over to complete the commanding victory.
Brief Scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 163 in 18.4 overs (Aniket Verma 74, Heinrich Klaasen 32, Travis Head 22; Mitchell Starc 5-35, Kuldeep Yadav 3-22, Mohit Sharma 1-25) lost to Delhi Capitals 166/3 in 16 overs (Faf du Plessis 50, Jake Fraser-McGurk 38, Abishek Porel 34*, KL Rahul 15, Tristan Stubbs 21*; Zeeshan Ansari 3-42) by 7 wickets
What next?
Sunrisers head to Kolkata where they face KKR on April 3 while Delhi Capitals have a longer break before taking on CSK in Chennai on April 5.
Rajasthan Royals clinched a thrilling six-run victory over Chennai Super Kings to bring up their first win of IPL 2025. Starring with the bat for the Royals was Nitish Rana who hit a powerful 81 before Wanindu Hasaranga helped defend the total with crucial strikes right through .
Where was the match won?
While Rana’s onslaught in the powerplay set RR up to get a total that was above-par, CSK had managed to pull things back at the back-end. In the chase, however, RR managed to keep things in control with regular strikes right through. The chief architect of that was Wanindu Hasaranga who struck at important junctures not allowing CSK to get away.
RAJASTHAN ROYALS
Powerplay – Nitish Rana runs amok
Phase score – 79/1 [RR: 13.16; 4s/6s: 9/5]
Nitish Rana found himself coming in just the first over of the innings after Yashasvi Jaiswal chipped a simple catch to mid off. What had started off well for Khaleel Ahmed and CSK, who had opted to bowl, soon took a turn for the worse. Rana hit the second ball he faced for a boundary to get going. Jamie Overton, making his IPL debut, was carted for 14 runs in his first over and 16 in his next as CSK struggled to get their lengths right. In a bid to shake up things, R Ashwin was brought in but Rana employed the sweep behind square to good effect as RR picked up 19 in that over. Khaleel erred in lengths once again in his third over of the powerplay and allowed Rana to cash in further on a surface that was not offering much for the bowlers. Out of RR’s 79 inside the powerplay, Rana alone accounted for 58.
Middle overs – Spinners pull things back for CSK
Phase score – 66/4 [RR: 7.33; 4s/6s: 4/2]
Rana remained CSK’s biggest threat from one end but Noor Ahmed managed to strike straightaway at the other bagging a well-set Sanju Samson caught at long off. It helped apply the brakes on the scoring-rate although RR had a good base already. Rana though was taking one of CSK’s main weapon in R Ashwin out sweeping him for another four and a six when the offspinner returned. But Ashwin had the last laugh throwing one wide when Rana danced down the track early to be stumped for a 36-ball 81. This helped further CSK’s cause as they applied the squeeze through their spinners. Both Ahmed and Ravindra Jadeja chipped in getting Dhruv Jurel and Wanindu Hasaranga caught off mishits as CSK bounced back successfully.
Death overs – RR stutter at the finish
Phase score – 37/4 [RR: 7.4; 4s/6s: 2/2]
Riyan Parag and Shimron Hetmyer, who was dropped first ball, were the only other batters from RR who found the boundaries apart from the top-order. But neither could get them at the frequency that RR would have liked. Parag was yorked by Pathirana in the 18th over while Hetmyer was caught in the final over. Through it all CSK stitched together overs without boundaries that helped keep them in the game. RR still managed to get past 180 thanks to the initial onslaught from Rana.
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
Powerplay – Blows exchanged in tight phase
Phase score – 42/1 [RR: 7; 4s/6s: 6/1]
The Guwahati pitch began to assist the pacers more as the game progressed and both Jofra Archer and Tushar Deshpande extracted appreciable bounce from it straihgtaway. The former got one of the balls to kick up and angled across Rachin Ravindra to have him caught behind. Shot-making was not easy through the line in this phase with Ruturaj Gaikwad also being struck on the elbow once. After Archer’s maiden over to start, CSK had put on only 5 on the board after the first three overs. But gradually both Gaikwad and Rahul Tripathi found other ways to get the boundaries. They began to use the pace behind square on the onside and put the bowlers off their lengths. As a result, CSK got some useful boundaries in the latter half of the powerplay which helped get the chase back on track.
Middle overs – Hasaranga keeps CSK in check
Phase score – 80/3 [RR: 8.88; 4s/6s: 6/3]
This was a phase of play that CSK were threatening to break free with wickets in hand. But Rajasthan were almost single-handedly kept in the game by Wanindu Hasaranga’s three strikes through the middle overs. He struck with his first ball having Tripathi caught at deepmidwicket. But CSK had their best spin-hitter in Shivam Dube walk in and he took the attack straight back to Hasaranga hitting him for a six down the ground. He continued the onslaught in Hasaranga’s next over hitting him for a four and a six, readying to get that one big over that could tilt the equation. But Dube fell immediately after thanks to a magical catch at cover by a diving Riyan Parag. But CSK hit back through their skipper Gaikwad who picked up three boundaries off Kumar Kartikeya to keep the run-rate up. When he needed more support at the other end, Vijay Shankar briefly promised to do so hitting Hasaranga for a six but only to be fooled by a googly off the very next ball. Gaikwad brought up his fifty soon after but heading into the final five overs, CSK needed 61 with a set Gaikwad being their biggest bet.
Death overs – CSK fall just short
Phase score – 54/2 [RR: 10.8, 4s/6s: 2/4]
Hasaranga once again played his part in the final overs with Gaikwad trying to take charge. CSK’s captain managed to tonk Hasaranga down the ground for a crucial six but became the legspinner’s fourth victim of the night when he holed out to long on next ball to fall for 63. Hasaranga finished with figures of 4-35 and ensured that he played a major part in RR’s defence of a middling total. For CSK, the onus lied on Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni to make a match out of this in the final stages of the game. RR got back Matheesha Theekshana for the 18th over and the spinner conceding only six with no boundaries, leaving CSK needing 39 off 12. Both the experienced campaigners picked up a six apeice from Tushar Deshpande’s penultimate over and got 19 in all leaving Sandeep Sharma to defend 20 in the final over. Interestingly, RR had turned to him even though jofra Archer [3-1-13-1] had an over left. But to their relief, Sharma saw Dhoni drag a low full toss wide of deepmidwicket where Hetmyer took a sharp running catch under pressure. Sharma saw off the threat from debutant Overton, who lofted him for one six, to eventually take RR home as CSK fell 6 runs short.
Brief Scores:
Rajasthan Royals 182/9 in 20 overs (SanjuSamson 20, Nitish Rana 81, Riyan Parag 37, Shimron Hetmyer 19; Khaleel Ahmed 2-38, Ravichandran Ahwin 1-46, Noor Ahmed 2-28, Matheesha Pathirana 2-28, Ravindra Jadeja 1-10) beat Chennai Super Kings 176/6 in 20 overs (Rahul Tripathy 23, Ruturaj Gaikwad 63, Shivam Dube 18, Ravindra Jadeja 32*, MS Dhoni 16, Jamie Overton 11*; Wanindu Hasaranga 4-35, Jofra Archer 1-13, Sndeep Sharna 1-42) by 6 runs
What next?
Both teams have a five day-gap before their next encounter on April 05 when CSK host the Delhi Capitals while Rajasthan Royals go to Mullanpur to take on the Punjab Kings on the same day.
A marathon innings by Sandun Suwaris paved the way for Moratu Vidyalaya to force a draw to the 73rd Battle of the Golds Big Match against Sri Sumangala College Panadura at De Soysa Stadium Moratuwa on Sunday.
Batting for the second time, Moratu Vidyalaya had barely closed the first innings deficit when Suwaris came to bat. They had just six wickets in hand with more than two sessions remaining on the final day when Suwaris rose to the occasion with a fine rearguard action.
The middle order batsman held their batting together with a marathon innings. He faced 258 balls for his unbeaten half century which included just a solitary boundary.
Moratu Vidyalaya fared badly in the first innings as they were bowled out for 87 runs with Mevindu Kumarasiri taking five wickets for 28 runs.
In their essay Sri Sumangala too struggled for runs but a half century by Rusith Jayawardana helped them reach 144 runs.
Earlier Sanjana Senavirathna played a crucial role top scoring with 66 runs. His knock included four fours and two sixes.The Battle of the Golds big match was played as a three day encounter for the first time this year.
Ramadan is a time to share the profound message of generosity, and compassion with the World – PM
First phase of the Urban Forest Project under the ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ programme launched
May this Eid-ul-Fitr bring peace, reconciliation and the fulfillment of our shared hopes for a new era of renewal and prosperity – President
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