You want your heroes to call it a day in a blaze of glory, sometimes they have to move out wrapped in ignominy instead. You cannot call it intentional. No player, let alone fighters like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, wants to fail. But sports can be cruel. The skills that allow them to shine bright can ditch them at a critical moment, putting reputations built over an entire career in jeopardy. Before they find the rhythm again, the time is up.
Rohit and Virat present a sad case indeed. Indian cricket lovers are justifiably livid at their disastrous performance and would settle for nothing but their ouster. They love their heroes but they love their team more. They don’t like it to lose in this fashion.
Rohit, the most selfless cricketer in Indian cricket is suddenly a selfish character. Why would he shuffle a successful opening batting duo to make space for himself? There was no point in dropping KL Rahul to number three in the batting order when he looked steady in the opener’s role with Yashasvi Jaiswal, goes the argument backed by some former cricketers. Had it worked, with the skipper scoring, it probably wouldn’t be such an issue. In cricket, as in other team sports, such decisions are a bit of a gamble. If they work, the man behind it is a great thinker of the game, a genius, if they fail then the tag of idiot is not far away.
For Rohit, it was a call that didn’t work. It was at an inopportune time. With the bat he has been making a negative impression over the last few months, beginning with the New Zealand series, the latest flop show has only made it worse. It’s heart-breaking to hear the suggestion that he should drop himself in the upcoming Test. It’s never an easy call for any player. It would mean defeat and surrender at a personal level – a blow to vanity. He would always like to prove himself with another game. But as the leader of the team sacrifice is expected of him.
Virat, the legend, finds himself in an usual slump in batting form. It is so bad that if he is out of the team, he won’t be missed. What is wrong with the great fighter, one of the best batters in the world and the master of pressure situations? Honestly, no one knows the answer. It cannot be about technique or temperament. His passion for the game was never in question. The only answer perhaps all things good come with a date of expiry. Even greats cannot escape it. They must get the timing of their farewell right. That big performance before calling it curtains may never come.
Whether anyone replacing them would come all guns blazing and reverse the slide in Australia is open to doubts. But one would expect the heroes to deliver that one great show before the end of their careers.
(By arrangements with Perspective Bytes)
