Tim Paine: Rohit Sharma’s need to pivot role while steering India back to winning formula

Indian captain Rohit Sharma’s return to his Test side altered a winning formula, now TIM PAINE writes how the skipper must find a way to fire – for his future, and the team’s.

It’s been said over the years that cricket is an individual sport dressed up as a team game and there’s more than a degree of truth to that maxim.

Though bowlers can use the placement of fielders to their advantage, and running between the wickets clearly requires two people to be in sync, ultimately it is the responsibility of each batter and bowler to execute their respective skills as best they can, and their personal numbers suffer if they cannot.

It is human nature that a player who is struggling is likely to be disappointed even if the team is winning and conversely a player who stars in a defeat could be satisfied.

These feelings might be hidden to varying degrees given that at least in principle the team must come first and therefore each individual’s demeanour should roughly correlate with the performance of the collective.

This is most important for the captain, whose job is to set the tone for his teammates and ensure that the bigger picture of the side is at the forefront of minds.

India's captain Rohit Sharma coming back into the side altered the winning formula. Picture: AFP

Which brings me to Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, who arrived in Australia after the Test series started and only returned to the XI once his team was already 1-0 up.

This had the potential to be disruptive because it ensured a winning side would have to make at least one change.

That was amplified by the fact that stand-in opener KL Rahul had done an excellent job in Perth, leading to Rohit playing in the middle order for the first time at Test level in almost six years.

The kicker was that Rohit had been badly out of form in the lead-up to this series. He had gone past 23 just once in his previous 10 Test innings since September.

Things only got worse when he fell for three and six against the pink-ball in Adelaide, including to a jaffer from Pat Cummins.

So now Rohit, at 37 and seemingly in the twilight of his Test career, must turn around his own game while holding the fort as his team strives to right the ship in what is shaping as a nip-and-tuck five-Test series.

Indian batsman Rohit Sharma is to amend his game as he hits the twilight of his career. Picture: AFP

That’s a tough ask on paper. The good news for India is that from my experience playing against him, and from what I can see from afar, Rohit has the temperament to handle these simultaneous challenges.

You can see from the way he talks that he’s a thoughtful, calm and measured guy who never appears to get too high or low.

Given captains have generally been batsmen over the years, Rohit isn’t the first to have to deal with such a situation.

Mark Taylor was famously stoic during his lean run in 1997 when he led Australia to regular wins despite battling for runs himself.

When I think back to my own captaincy experience, I was lucky this phenomenon didn’t affect me that much.

Former Australia captain Mark Taylor went through a similar task.

Not because I never had a form slump and was racking up century after century!

To the contrary, during my second life as Test player between 2017 and 2021, I was far from a star. I joke that I was the last player picked in the XI but there’s some truth to it all.

I had guns all around me so the expectations on a personal level were lower.

There is also a benefit in being a wicketkeeper who bats at No.7. I had two tangible skills to offer and it meant that if one wasn’t going well then I had a back-up to count on.

All in all, this made things much easier to remain composed and on an even keel.

You can’t always dominate or even win but I’m proud of being able to lead steadily across most of my time as Test captain.

That’s not to say I was always like that. When I was a young leader in Tasmania, I used to let my form dictate my mood.

More generally I didn’t treat my teammates well enough and lost my temper on the field. I pointed fingers and generally did not create a nurturing environment for the other players.

It was only after falling out of the Tassie side that I think I really matured. Perhaps this is Rohit’s greatest strength.

As someone who has played international cricket for 17 years, he has seen it all before.

He would prefer to be making runs but knows how to ride out a tough patch.

Some big scores from the captain would be ideal for the tourists but even if that doesn’t happen, he can make a positive impact by retaining equilibrium in the dressing room.

He was philosophical about the Mohammed Siraj-Travis Head incident and that is good because the last thing India needs is for its captain to be sucked into a spat.

That would be taking his eyes off the ball.

Originally published as Tim Paine: Rohit Sharma’s need to pivot role while steering India back to winning formula