Change

Rohit Sharma is very talented.

You already know this. You have read it countless times. You have read numerous articles describing him using this specific word. But the word I associate most with him is change.

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When Rohit Sharma first broke through, he caught everyone’s attention as a languid, easy-on-the-eye batter, who always seemed to have an extra second while batting. Yet, from the time he made his debut to 2013, he was an inconsistent cricketer, one who always looked good before suddenly throwing it away. All that talent was going to waste.

Rohit Sharma’s career since has been defined by change. Changing his position. Changing his technique. Changing his method. Changing himself.

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In 2013, he found himself opening an ODI innings in an ICC world event. Surely the last throw of the dice to salvage his career, and make use of his talent. Not many expected much of him, but this move unlocked something in him, and ever since, he has not looked back. He has not only been one of the best limited-overs batters of the modern era, but has arguably been the best ODI opener of this century. He formed an awesome opening partnership with (the often underrated) Shikhar Dhawan, and broke numerous scoring records, including the highest score in an ODI innings, which he broke again. 

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Rohit Sharma was not a test match player. He was deemed temperamentally unfit to play long innings at the highest level. He was tried everywhere in the batting order, and had meager returns to show for it. Until Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri asked him to open. 

At first, this move seemed flawed. A great limited-overs opener with some questions hanging over his technique and its suitability for the red-ball game, asked to perform arguably the toughest role in the format. Had this gone wrong, the management would have been in for a lot of criticism and flak.

Fortunately, that did not happen. Rohit Sharma, the test opener, was immediately successful, with multiple hundreds in his very first series as an opener. He has only gone on to cement his status as one of the best openers of this era, with consistent performances both home and away (who can forget his 161 in the Chennai dustbowl, where no one else could buy a run). To achieve this, he has had to completely strip down his game and build it back up, and to do this at such a fast pace shows how far his game has come. 

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In 2022, Virat Kohli was unceremoniously removed from the ODI captaincy position. A highly controversial, albeit understandable, move which was taken with the sole aim of winning ICC trophies (something which eluded the Indian Cricket Team since 2013). They appointed Rohit Sharma, a highly successful, 5-time IPL champion, albeit captaining possibly the most talented T20 franchise side ever assembled. 

When he was appointed captain, India were playing a very outdated form of ODI cricket. One built on slow accumulation and building at the start, culminating in an onslaught at the back end of the innings. Rohit Sharma epitomized this method. From 2016 to 2019, he was one of the slowest powerplay batters in the world, prioritizing control and wicket preservation over run-scoring. This approach, although successful in bilaterals, proved detrimental to the team. By consolidating and eating up balls, not only did it leave too much to do at the back end, it also did not expose the middle-order much time in the middle, leading to a brittle and unreliable middle order. The plan when playing against India was very clear: get a few early inroads, and you will (more often than not) topple this side. Which is what New Zealand managed to do so well in the Semi Finals.

So Rohit Sharma set about changing things. To change the team’s mentality. To change the way their innings was constructed. But it is difficult to make sure everyone buys into this method. When an approach has worked well (India were by far the winningest team in the years leading up to the World Cup), why would anyone be convinced to change it? This is where Rohit’s genius came to the fore. He realized that the only way to ensure everyone buys into his mantra is by practicing what he preached. He tore down his incredibly successful method of slow consolidation followed by an explosion at the end, and started going bang bang from ball 1. 

In the 2 years leading up to the 2023 World Cup, Rohit Sharma was one of the fastest powerplay batters, blasting the new ball left, right and center, and ensuring the team always had great momentum to carry forward the innings. Gone were the slow starts which led to his record-breaking double hundreds, Rohit Sharma 3.0 was all about the strike rate and the boundary count. To bring about such a dramatic change in your method at the age of 35 is the mark of a man in complete command of his craft and having total confidence in his abilities.

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They told us Rohit Sharma was talented. I think they may have undersold him.