Rohit Sharma Ought To Take A Call…Sooner Than Later

Rohit Sharma ought to be mulling over his Test/international career sooner than later. Joining the Indian team after the Jasprit Bumrah led Indian team trounced Australia in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he has not been able to contribute with the bat at all. His fifth-ball dismissal in the first innings in Melbourne to his counterpart Pat Cummins reflected his diminishing confidence levels; initially he chose to drop down the order allowing Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul to continue opening the innings. This was the same pair that had put on 201 in the second innings in Perth. But after the Test matches in Adelaide and Brisbane, he reverted to the opening slot — allowing Jaiswal to take strike first — and perished quickly and traced his steps back to the pavilion, an unhapppy man. A powerful batter in the white-ball format, Sharma would have been wiser batting before Rishabh Pant (5/6), but he rushed to the top, a decision that resulted in Shubhman Gill being dropped “to give a sense of balance” to the playing XI.. Should the home team win the contest at the MCG, Sharma may begin to introspect about captaincy before the fifth and final Test in Sydney. Nothing has gone right for him since the first Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru. Sharma focussed a lot to win the two ICC World Cups — he lost the final against Australia in Ahmedabad and won the final against South Africa in Bridgetown. Sharma, an attractive player to watch, is struggling and that’s not a good sight!