ICC World Cup: How Rohit turned around India’s fortunes

Ahmedabad: ‘What would Jesus do or WWJD?’ is an adage from the 1400s which lost favour somewhere along the way. It resurfaced a couple of decades ago in the form of chintzy trinkets and bumper stickers, obviously. 

The idea, in a nutshell, is to behave as the religious leader would, no matter the circumstances. With time, though, these four words have become commonplace in the world of management and are spewed by leaders on a whim.   

A loose derivative of the ideology is to practice what you preach - management schools get off on this stuff - but reality has a nagging habit of coming in the way of the righteous path, a good decision, a good idea… 

This is what Rohit Sharma had said back in 2021 after India put on an embarrassing show at the T20 World Cup: "After the T20 World Cup in Dubai, we felt that there needs to be a change in our attitude, how we play the game. We had a clear message and they were ready to accept it. If the messages are clear from the captain and the coach, individuals will try and do that. For that, they need freedom and clarity which is what we are trying to do. We are trying to give them as much freedom as possible.”

The quote, which was a footnote of the talk show with Dinesh Karthik, was swept under the rug for it wore the garb of something captains and players say in the wake of defeats. 

While Rohit is as guilty of this act as the others in the team in the past, little did anyone envisage the degree of conviction in Rohit’s words at this point. It became clear, eventually, that that proclamation was directed at himself more than it was towards the others for Rohit knew that he showed them the way, they would follow. 

See, not long ago, Rohit himself was a wait-and-watch opener before finding gears three, four, five and beyond. He has it all, and that’s what led to him to score three double-centuries, and rack up 10,662 runs in 261 games at an average of 49.13 and a career strike rate of 91.81. 

Great, but India weren’t winning big-ticket ICC events, they hadn’t won one since the 2013 Champions Trophy, so something had to change and for that, Rohit needed to change. 

Now, as India sit on the cusp of what could be their third World Cup, Rohit’s evolution and resultant impression becomes lucid. 

Besides changing the very inflexion by which the art of batting is spoken by openers in One-Day Internationals, the Indian skipper has sacrificed himself to absolve those committing the sin of poor strike rate in his team.

Since 2022, Rohit hasn’t scored nearly as many runs, meaning his career average has a shade under 50 for the first time in a while. Rohit has scored a mere two centuries in this period, he had 25 of them in 113 games since settling in (he was technically entrusted with the role in 2013) as the opener in 2014. He has gotten out far more frequently than he ever has. 

But, one number stands out, and it was the one he hoped would salvage Indian white-ball dreams.

While his career strike rate in ODIs isn’t particularly impressive, a result of India’s generally archaic approach in the format, Rohit’s spiked to over 115 in this one-year period, and that came at the cost of his career-average dipping to 49.13. 

These numbers might not garner the desired level of awe when read without context, but here’s all you need to know. Rohit's strike rate matches the one Shahid Afridi maintained throughout his career, and he averages just under what AB de Villiers did for a large part of his. 

This Rohit, the opener, is better on both those counts than Virender Sehwag, the opener. And that is saying as much as it should. But an approach such as this one comes with inherent issues, Sehwag had them too.  

There was a time when Rohit scored a century every 4.5 games. Now, he does so every 17 games. He used to lose his wicket as an opener once every 63.36 deliveries until 2021. Since then, he has gotten out every 43.41 balls. 

And yet, Rohit is arguably the most influential batter this World Cup has seen.

At this point, four batters have scored more than his 550 and they all average far more than his 55, but not one batter in the top ten of the highest run-getters list has a better strike rate than 124.14. Also, no one on the list has more sixes than his 28, and only team-mate Virat Kohli has more boundaries (64) than Rohit’s 62 in this tournament. 

As a result of Rohit’s belligerence, four of India's five-best powerplay scores in World Cup history have come in this edition.

Realistically, what does all this translate to?

If you wanted to keep it simple, you could say it has been the difference between India winning ten games on the trot rather than not. 

If, however, you wanted it spelt out more categorically, Rohit’s adopted leitmotif has helped India set scores which give the bowlers the luxury, even if they don’t really need it, and it has taken out almost all of the usually-associated pressures in a chase.

Save for that one game against Australia in Chennai where KL Rahul and Kohli came to India’s rescue in a palpitation-inducing chase against Sri Lanka in Mumbai, Rohit has delivered in every single game, in every single situation and against every single good-or-otherwise bowling unit. 

Let’s be honest, had it not been for Rohit’s start, and Shubman Gill’s subsequent 80, Kohli would have felt hot under the collar as he pursued his 50th ODI hundred in the semifinal against New Zealand in Mumbai a couple of days ago. 

The former skipper ate up 106 balls to get to the mythical mark, and he only did so in the 42nd over. So, in using up only 29 balls for his 47 runs as India raced to 71 in the first 49 deliveries of the game, Rohit had laid the platform for Kohli too. 

It also meant Kohli didn’t take up any more time than he already had, and that gave time for Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul to go to work. All of that meant India would get to 397, and all it took was for Rohit to re-learn grammar and give up everything he had indulged in for so long. Easy. 

In a day and age when young bucks entering the team insist that they be slotted in specific batting positions, Rohit has let go of what he thought was to become what he has to be. 

Selflessness is at the root of Rohit's second avatar. So, perhaps someday there will be trinkets and bumper stickers reading: ‘WWRD?’ or ‘What would Rohit do?’

The Hitman 

OVERALL: Matches: 261; Inn: 253; NO: 36; Runs: 10662; HS: 264; Ave: 49.13; SR: 91.81; 100s: 31; 50s: 55. 

2014-21: Mat: 113; Runs: 6031; Ave: 60.31; SR: 95.18; 100s: 25; Balls Faced Per Dismissal: 63.36; Balls Faced Per boundary: 8.26. 

2022-present: Mat: 34; Runs: 1457; Ave: 50.24; SR: 115.72; 100s: 2; Balls Faced Per dismissal: 43.41; Balls Faced Per Boundary: 5.38.