Rohit’s bat-aggressive plan just not working

If India do have a playing philosophy under Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid, it doesn't seem like the team is processing it.

When Rohit Sharma joined hands with head coach Rahul Dravid after India’s disappointing 2021 T20 World Cup campaign in the UAE, it was with the hope that these astute brains would combine to end India’s barren run in ICC tournaments.

India's Rohit Sharma reacts after being given out lbw off the bowling of Australia's Nathan Lyon on the fourth day of the ICC World Test Championship Final between India and Australia at The Oval cricket ground in London, Saturday, June 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)(AP)

After the last cycle (2019 ODI WC, 2021 WTC, 2021 T20 WC) of failed attempts to win ICC knockout matches, it was believed that there had been an overdose of captain Virat Kohli’s exuberance and it was time to turn to Sharma’s street-smartness. Dravid’s game sense and data crunching would help India cross the final hurdle. With two major competitions of the current cycle (2022 T20 WC, 2023 WTC) ending in heavy defeats, a lot of the enthusiasm has waned.

While Kohli could not lead India to trophies, he consistently played Test cricket with five specialist bowlers. Armed with a crackerjack pace bowling attack, he succeeded. What has Sharma aimed for and where has he failed?

Sharma has been an advocate of India ‘playing in a different way’ – that is batting with more freedom in T20s, ODIs and Tests. Which team does this the best across formats, currently? He doesn’t say it, but the India skipper wants his team to bat like England.

Sharma did not declare at the toss of the World Test Championship final with a swagger like Ben Stokes would, that they would chase. India did elect to bowl first with the same mentality – take early advantage of overhead conditions and chase any total down. But symptomatic of India’s up-and-down away showings in the WTC cycle, there was a yawning gap between goal-setting and implementation in the final.

Stokes’ England overcame a 132-run first innings deficit in the series decider against India at Birmingham last July. They chased down 378 in the fourth innings inside 77 overs. India’s top order perished to ambitious shots in the final – three of them in the 40s – to finish 209 runs short of Australia’s 444-run target.

It was the same story in the T20 World Cup semi-final last year. In the lead-up to the event, Sharma kept saying how crucial it was to play T20 cricket differently. After initial promise in bilateral T20Is, England blew India away by 10 wickets in the semi-final, chasing down 169 inside 16 overs. India’s much hyped aggression came a cropper. Their sluggish 62/2 at the halfway point in their innings pushed them back decisively.

Which begs the question whether the new-age batting approach Sharma has spoken about since taking over as India captain ever taken wings. Have India tried to constantly stay ahead of the game without many of their batters having the ability to do that?

Sharma fell attempting a paddle sweep to put off Nathan Lyon in his first over in the Indian second innings. Cheteshwar Pujara tried an uncharacteristic upper cut to be caught off Pat Cummins on 27. In India’s quest of a record 444 run chase, 92/1 became 93/3.

“I don't think it was a lapse of concentration. Sometimes, you want to be ahead of the game, you want to take the bowlers on. Test cricket is played in a different way these days,” Sharma said. “If somebody is bowling a really good spell, you try and respect that. Otherwise, you have to try and do something different just to break the bowler’s rhythm. That is what Travis Head did.”

What Sharma didn’t say is Head was simply playing his game. Like how Rishabh Pant would. Or Shreyas Iyer would in the sub-continent against spin.

Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, the backbone of Australia’s batting, didn’t change their game. Pujara’s game plan would traditionally be to resist anything even minutely fancy. Sharma himself delivered one of his career-best performances in the last England tour by picking his moments to attack.

The ageing Indian batting lineup with constantly dipping averages – the top five batters’ average has dipped from 43 (2017-19) to 41 (2019-21) to 34 (2021-23) - may not be the best to push the envelope.

When asked by Sourav Ganguly on Star Sports, Dravid, while admitting that India’s batters had fallen short, argued that it was the same with other teams with pitches becoming increasingly difficult while chasing victories. Numbers though suggest the averages of the top-five batters of Australia, England, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have been on the up.

If India does have a playing philosophy, not many in the team seem to be able to process it. The team management’s failure to identify the right players for big games and not having enough younger reinforcements have also hurt India.

In four-months’ time, a new format and another world title will be up for grabs. Sharma doesn’t intend to change the playing tempo. Can he find the team balance at least?