Rohit Sharma: The box office hitman forever

New Delhi: One could romanticise till eternity, those sublime wrists that sent the white ball soaring into the Cow Corner stands of stadiums across the world.

Or roll on the floor laughing at his often unintentionally hilarious quips that lit up the most uneventful of interactions and were not limited to the stump microphone on which he delivered some broadcasting gold dust.

Or wonder why the word "talent" felt like a sarcasm-laden abuse during those early years when he didn't fulfil his true potential.

Or simply sit back and think about Rohit Sharma's over-a-decade long Test journey in which the balance sheet of performance goes out of the window to make space for the memories he made.

It wasn't easy being a megastar in an era which well and truly belonged to Virat Kohli but Rohit did it with aplomb.

The world always seemed a better place when Rohit pulled audaciously and smiled effortlessly.

One would fall in love with the player and then his genuine, uncomplicated persona would turn that love affair into a lifelong one.

So, naysayers can judge him for a middling Test career where he didn't even reach close to 75 games and had only one century in multiple tours of the SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia). But for a fan, the man's magnetic charm was hard to ignore.

Red ball and Rohit's "marriage" was a rocky one but when it came to white ball, the "union" always felt like a "happily ever after" with an unprecedented seven 50-over World Cup hundreds.

Add three double hundreds in ODIs and he becomes an all time white-ball great, who could force people to turn up at the turnstiles.

So, it's a choice as to how one wants to judge Rohit's career.

The 67 Tests would make the glass look half empty. But the 273 and still counting ODIs certainly make that same glass seem more than half full.

Add to it, his tremendous leadership skills, second only to the peerless Mahendra Singh Dhoni in terms of record, it always smelt like "team spirit".

The good thing about being a cricketer from Mumbai is the head start one gets during initial days.

So, when Rohit took his first strides, it didn't take much time for the word to spread that there is a talented off-spinner from Borivali who also had potential with the willow.

Back in the day, there was an India Under 17 team which had an opener called Ravichandran Ashwin and spin bowling all-rounder named Rohit Sharma.

Rohit lost his kitbag on a crowded Mumbai local train while coming for Under-19 trials but even a man as strict as Dilip Vengsarkar was convinced that he is the real deal and things like these can be overlooked.

In Indian cricket, lazy elegance is a double-edged sword and such monikers end up being counter-productive for a player's reputation.

Rohit would often stress on the hard training that went into building the muscle memory that facilitated his imperious pull shots, making them look like daily chore.

As everyone fawned over the extra 1.5 seconds (as Virat Kohli famously said in a podcast "ek nahi dedh") he had for every stroke, the critics would also be ready for those indiscreet shots that undid him. One of them was at the stroke of tea at the Oval when he tried to loft Moeen Ali in a 2014 Test.

The same Rohit would smash a boundary off the first delivery of an India-Pakistan World Cup match at Old Trafford.

The dichotomy always existed.

But what made Rohit endearing was how loosely he wore his stardom at a time when society as a whole was undergoing a massive change with the PR machinery and various self-appointed gate-keepers ruling the roost.

The days spent with Dhoni in the Indian team came in handy and Rohit's humility actually helped him a lot during times when someone else in his place could have been torn to shreds.

He could propose his girlfriend for marriage on the cricket pitch of a ground where he learnt the ropes during his formative years.

The same Rohit could knock into Harbhajan Singh's room and explain to him why he won't be picked in the Mumbai Indians playing XI during an IPL final.

He understood the demands of how to manage a star-studded MI dressing room which also helped him when he got full time national leadership.

Rohit has been a captain on field but a leader off it.

His now famous "koi garden mein ghuma toh....." has made professional meme creators richer.

But he dotes on his "garden mein ghumne wale bachche".

Recently he was asked which celebrity he would like to go out for dinner with and the reply was a square cut he often hits with nonchalance.

"None. I would rather enjoy a dinner with my Garden mein ghumne wale bachche i.e. Sarfaraz (Khan), Yashasvi (Jaiswal) and (Shubman) Gill." Similarly during the 2019 World Cup in England, a mediaperson questioned what he felt about Rishabh Pant's performance and his call up to the team.

"Arre you guys only asked where's Rishabh Pant, where's Rishabh Pant? Here's Rishabh Pant," he replied leaving a room full of hard-nosed journalists in splits.

Inclusivity as a leader was always Rohit's USP.

He could easily shield a debutant (Sarfaraz) till the pitch at Rajkot remained fresh.

He was not afraid of giving Hardik Pandya the final over of a high stakes T20 World Cup final or convince Ravichandran Ashwin to stay back during the tumultuous Border Gavaskar Trophy.

And when need be, he could cleverly use the switched on microphone on the dais and make his displeasure about certain SOPs clear without even addressing the media.

Captaincy never became a burden and in fact the best of Rohit as a Test player came once he took over the mantle of Test team and even before that as an opener.

The New Zealand and Australia series happened at a time when Rohit's descent as a Test batter had already commenced.

At 37, his reflexes had slowed for red-ball cricket and there was a split second delay in reacting to the length rather than picking it half a second early.

His decision to drop himself at Sydney against Australia this year can be debated for years but one thing can never be doubted that each of his decisions --right or wrong -- came from a place of honesty.

History should be kinder to him.