New Delhi, August 17: Rohit Sharma’s arrival on the Indian cricket scene was greeted with unanimous approval from all quarters – former players saw him as the future No.4 in Test matches, when the great Tendulkar retires.
Newer fans were enthralled by his strokeplay, and the selectors were receiving bouquets from everyone for the savvy selection.
Now however, the wheels seem to have fallen off. He’s scored 695 runs in 41 ODIs at an average of 24.82 – hardly the stuff of greatness-in-the-making. And with his cheap dismissals in the World Twenty20 and the subsequent West Indies series to the short ball, the writing was on the wall for the 22 year-old.
He’s been dropped from the ODI squad for the Sri Lanka tri-series and the Champions Trophy, but he’s still young, and with the talent he has, there is every chance he will force his way back into the team.
“Whatever I’ve done so far I’m happy with it,” Sharma told the Indian Express, “But I think, I could have done better in one-dayers.”
“I think I tried to be what I wasn’t. I was too keen to score runs quickly but I’m learning from my mistakes,” Sharma said.
Sharma now wants to look ahead, ” never think of selection when I go out to bat. I never think about it too much. It’s better to concentrate on things that are in your hands. My job is to bat and score runs,” he said. “And that is the only thing on my mind right now.”
If he manages to fight his way back into the team, he will be a better player, and Indian cricket will be the beneficiary.
—–Agencies