World Cup: Risk-taker Rohit Sharma the true leader of crack unit | Cricket-world-cup News

The question that might float up after Rohit Sharma’s dazzling momentum-setting 47 in the World Cup semifinal is should he be happy with all-out attacking cameos or change tack.On match eve, he would say, ‘we have to be brave, and hopefully fortune will favour the brave’. Lack of ‘bravery’ has been the Achilles heel of some of the past Indian teams. Rohit has been part of a few such outfits, and even led one in a T20 World Cup. Clearly, in his last chance to lead at a World Cup, he has decided that something needed to change. And it had to begin with him.
It was just 47 runs, but in 29 balls with four sixes – a commanding, deflating, tone-setting cameo. Usually, World Cups over the years have seen some outstanding cameos: Aravinda de Silva’s counter-attacking dazzler that sucker-punched India in 1996, Ajay Jadeja’s 45 that stunned Pakan in the same World Cup, Mike Velleta’s 45 against England in the 1987 final, Kris Srikkanth’s audacious 38 in the 1983 final, or Tamim Iqbal’s 53 against India in the 2007 edition.

But Rohit has been repeatedly pulling out gems that have not only demotivated opponents, but also stirred his teammates – and that is his legacy as a batsman in this World Cup. To make the Indians dare, extend themselves, and go where no batting unit has ventured before. It has allowed the likes of Virat Kohli to breathe easy, not fuss about the run rate, and carry on his tournament-defining batsmanship.
It’s perhaps safe conjecture to make that Rohit, the all-out adventurous opener, would not have materialised had he not been captain. Hence, ‘selfless’ isn’t the adjective that fits as he is obviously doing it with a definite purpose for his team. But still, there haven’t been many captains who have stretched themselves like the way Rohit has.
As it happens with Indian cricket, there was some wild speculation that the Indian team management might be toying with batting him at No.4 to solve the middle-order issues. And the question was put to him in an interview he gave to this newspaper before the World Cup.

A firm ‘No’ came first. “Jiska jidhar batting position hai and those who have won games in that position, why will we change them. Someone else needs to step up.” He would then talk about how he is not worried about the No. 4 position as Shreyas Iyer was there.
When was the last time a captain took the onus of all-out aggression on his own shoulders and batted the way Rohit has done this World Cup? Not every captain was an opener or blessed with his skills. But to his credit, Rohit, despite the presence of younger players around him, donned the role of the risk-taker. He could have given Shubman Gill the role of an all-out aggressor but Rohit didn’t take the easy way out.
Method, not madness
The batting order too has been carefully arranged to facilitate a continuity of aggression. Rohit attacks, Gill doesn’t extend himself but is naturally brisk. Shreyas Iyer swings for the fences, Kohli holds the innings together. Jadeja holds base, Suryakumar attacks. Tying all this together, and the one imparting freedom and energy into this batting unit, has been Rohit’s blitzes.
It just took four balls for Rohit to decide to go for it in the semifinal. It wasn’t a bad ball per se – on a length, on middle. But he had decided it had to go. There was no room for an aerial shot but somehow, he drag-flicked it just over the leaping short midwicket. Next ball he slapped on the up, not quite timed, but his sheer will had it plummeting past mid-off.

The two manufactured shots were an indication of his mood, and a reflection of his intent in this World Cup. But it was the six in the third over that must have dispirited the New Zealanders. As he has done often this tournament, Rohit imperiously sprang down the pitch to put Boult into the extra-cover stands. In the league game between the two sides, he had done that to deflate Matt Henry.Most Read
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New Zealand were pushed into Plan B soon, and went for the short balls. Was it in hope that it would surprise him? Instead, sweet surprises landed amidst fans in the backward square-leg stands. Finally, Tim Southee conjured a slower ball that had Rohit miscuing over mid-off and it took all the skill and composure that Williamson could muster to pouch the swirler.
A question about his captaincy came up in the pre-World Cup chat with the newspaper. The timing of it. “Obviously once you are at the end of your career, it’s different. You want to be at your peak when you’re 26-27. But I am very aware that you cannot always get what you want. You are talking about the Indian captaincy and there have been stalwarts in the Indian team who haven’t got it in the past. I had to wait for my turn, and fair enough.”

One thing is certain though: the knowledge that this is his last chance has galvanised Rohit into doing the most important thing that was needed in this batting unit: that fire at the top, someone taking the risks and being a true leader.