Tribune News Service
Rohit Mahajan
Chandigarh, March 2
On Friday, Rohit Sharma takes over as India’s captain in the longest format from a man who’s India’s most successful Test captain — and who’s one year Sharma’s junior. He steps into the large shoes of Virat Kohli, who is 33 years old and has 40 Test wins to his credit — this is three less than the number of Test matches played by Sharma.
Sharma turns 35 next month. Clearly, for him the road ahead is much shorter than the one he’s travelled so far in cricket. He has only a brief time to leave his mark.
Though Sharma is not old by current standards in T20 franchise-driven protracted careers, at close to 35, he’s no spring chicken, either. A generation ago, Sunil Gavaskar gave up captaincy of his own volition at 35 and retired from cricket at 38. Kapil Dev never captained after age 28 and retired at 35. More recently, Sourav Ganguly lost captaincy at 33, Rahul Dravid gave it up at 34 and Sachin Tendulkar relinquished it at 31.
But then we have Anil Kumble, made captain at 37. He won a series at home against Pakistan, made a bigger impact in Australia as a leader on the field — and some righteous plainspeak off it. But his tenure didn’t last even one year, for by the time he played his final Test, he was done as a player — his last two Test matches yielded returns of 0/160 and 3/126, and the three batsmen he dismissed were Nos. 7, 9 and 10 of Australia in New Delhi.
Kumble performed his role very well, even as his body, after decades of wear and tear, was giving up; crucially, the young Mahendra Singh Dhoni had shown remarkable coolness and acumen in leading India by then — at the T20 World Cup in 2007 and, even more impressively, in the 50-over CB Series in Australia in 2008.
Sharma’s innings
Sourav Ganguly, Dhoni and Kohli left a long-lasting impression with their distinct leadership styles. Ganguly and Kohli were extremely expressive and passionate, but Dhoni often gave the impression of being indifferent — the way he simply sauntered away from the leadership role in the middle of a gruelling Test series in Australia cemented that impression.
In terms of his on-field persona, Sharma, a carefree character, is going to be more in the Dhoni mould than the Ganguly or Kohli mould.
But the most important question is — how much time would he have to leave his stamp on the job?
Chetan Sharma, the chairman of selectors, said that Rohit Sharma’s tenure would be used to groom a younger player for the top job.
“We want to groom future captains under Rohit. He is the No 1 cricketer of our country. Today’s professional cricketers manage their body and Rohit has no problem at all and he is absolutely okay…” Chetan Sharma said two weeks ago.
It’s curious that he should have mentioned fitness — Rohit Sharma indeed has had problems with injuries, and even someone of the stature of Gavaskar argues that he’s not the best candidate to lead the team in all formats because of his history of injuries.
Sharma’s ascension to the leadership role has come in the twilight of his career — maybe he’ll flicker all the more bright for that.
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