T20 World Cup: For Rohit Sharma, a legacy-defining moment

On the night of November 19, 2023, Rohit Sharma was a shattered man. His eyes were moist, and his body language reflective of heartbreak, as he laboured over his words without his trademark wit in the post-match formalities that followed India losing the ODI World Cup final to Australia in Ahmedabad.

A long-standing dream of his — playing a leading role in a World Cup triumph — had turned to dust.

And at 36, Rohit didn’t know if there would be another opportunity (he was a junior member of the team that won the 2007 World T20). As he recollected in an Instagram post after a few days of complete silence, “I had no idea how to come back from this. The first few days I didn’t know what to do. My family, and my friends kept me going. kept things pretty light around me, which was quite helpful. It wasn’t easy to digest, but life moves on.”

Life has moved on and how. Seven months since that gut-wrenching defeat, Rohit and India are in another World Cup final, this time in the T20 format against South Africa in Barbados. Nobody could have seen this coming at the time of the ODI World Cup final defeat, simply because Rohit had been out of India’s T20 team ever since they lost in the semi-finals of the 2022 edition against England in Adelaide. With Virat Kohli also kept out, it was widely believed that the selectors were planning for 2024 in the United States and Caribbean with a younger team under the leadership of Hardik Pandya.

Perhaps if India had won the ODI World Cup, Rohit may have consented. But disappointment in that final fuelled Rohit’s desire to keep going, a decision vindicated by events in recent weeks. It was only in January, against Afghanistan in a three-match series at home, that Rohit made a return as captain of the T20 side, but he hasn’t allowed doubts over India’s muddled selection policy over the past two years to linger at the T20 World Cup through sheer weight of his performances.

Rohit’s batting has been among the most stirring aspects of India’s unbeaten run to the final. For all the criticism about his substandard form in recent IPL seasons – he had averaged below 30 from 2017 to 2023 before bettering his numbers this year — the 37-year-old has managed to lead by example and tower over their two biggest rivals, Australia and England, in consecutive crunch games. Against the Australians, Rohit was able to take on the bowlers from the outset and smash his way to a match-winning 41-ball 92. It was the kind of knock that Rohit has been demanding from his batters ever since he took over as captain, having acknowledged the need to play the brand of white-ball cricket that had helped England and Australia garner success.

And then against England, the conditions demanded a slight alteration. On a pitch that was under covers for much of a gloomy Thursday morning in Guyana, there was low bounce and prodigious turn as the game wore on. Rohit couldn’t employ the horizontal-bat shots and hit through the line with the freedom he would like, but he still showed adequate intent to get India to a total that was too much for England to chase in the conditions.

Compared to two years ago, when India were knocked out in the semi-finals to the same opposition, cold numbers may not convey the change in mindset given that they made only three runs more than what they did in Adelaide. But in the desire to keep looking for the attacking option, Rohit and the other Indian batters got it right, just like they have all through this tournament.

“We adapted really well, conditions were challenging. That’s been the success story for us so far. If batters adapt, things fall in place,” Rohit said after the semi-final victory on Thursday.

Rohit is also worthy of credit for picking an appropriate bowling combination in sync with the conditions. Despite including four spinners in the 15-member squad, India played only two in the starting eleven in the US leg, keeping the excellent Kuldeep Yadav on the bench to the surprise of many. The reasoning was sound for the pitches were distinctly favourable to the pacers, exploited appropriately by Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj.

In the Caribbean, however, Siraj went out and Kuldeep came in. With the left-arm wrist spinner claiming 10 scalps in four matches, the swap has clearly bolstered India’s chances. In May, when the squad was picked, Rohit was fairly certain that the pitches in the West Indies will support his spinners.

“I definitely wanted four spinners. We’ve played a lot of cricket there (Caribbean). We know what the conditions are like. With morning starts at 10-10.30am, there’s a little bit of technical aspect involved in this. With two of the spinners being allrounders who can bat, Axar and Jadeja, and two attacking spinners — Kuldeep and Chahal — it gives you the balance in the spin department. Based on the team composition of the opposition we can decide what we want to play with,” Rohit had said, indicating that the call to have four spinners in the squad was his.

All of this will be celebrated long into the future only if the outcome of the final is favourable for India though. If he wins, he will join a select list of two — Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni — as World Cup-winning captains for India. Lose and further agony akin to that November night will be in store. The reality is for Rohit to confront on Saturday.