It’s been a forgettable IPL season so far for India’s two most eminent batsmen, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Match after match, expectations have built for high scores from their bats, but each innings has only added to the disappointment of their legions of fans and bewildered experts.
In the last match they’ve played, both have made ducks. 7 matches so far, Kohli has a mere 119 runs with 48 as his highest. Rohit fares marginally worse, with 114 runs from the same number of matches and 41 as his best. In run aggregate so far, Kohli comes in at no.37 and Rohit two notches lower at no.39. These are extremely poor figures for two of the finest batsmen in the world and a massive comedown own from their usual exploits in the IPL over the years.
For the record, Kohli is the highest run scorer in the IPL with 6402 runs. Rohit comes in at no.3 with 5725. Kohli also has a total of 5 centuries in the league, only one behind record holder Cris Gayle. But his 4 centuries in the In 2016 is a long-standing season record, currently under threat from Jos Buttler (Rajasthan Royals) who has blazed his way to three already this year.
Rohit has only one century in the IPL. But he has 5 in T20 internationals which, along with his stupendous record in ODIs marked him out as the best white ball player in the past 5-6 years. He has also been the lodestar, as batsman and captain in Mumbai Indians winning the title 5 times, the most by any team so far.
I’ve used these facts and stats to put the unusually long struggles of Kohli and Rohit this IPL season in perspective. Sport can be cruel. Sometimes ill-luck or poor form can hound even the best players. It’s not just the low scores, however, but also the manner in which these two have batted which is confounding. . Both have appeared lacklustre, the footwork awry, the aggression forced, not natural, the shot selection poor. While physically present in the match, it has appeared that their minds are elsewhere. For elite and high-performing cricketers this is unusual to say the least.Beyond a point such failuresthey start raising worries and questions.
Between Kohli and Rohit, concern over the former is greater. It’s been 100 innings since Kohli got a century in any format in any tournament, bilateral or league. This is an astonishing sequence for a batsman who was making a century over fourth innings or so. Kohli’s last ton, his 7oth, came in the Test against Bangladesh in 2019. The 71 has been long awaited, almost to the point of despair, for him as well as his fans.
In the context, Rohit’s recent slump has been more surprising. For the past three years, he has been India’s best all-format batsman and was recently listed as one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of 2021 for his performances in England on the last tour.
While he hasn’t exactly been in blazing form in the past 8-10 months, Rohit always looked threatening, not shrouded in uncertainty as he has been this IPL season.
Interestingly, the impact of their Kohli’s and Rohit’s batting woes on the fortunes of their respective teams has been contrasting. Five times former champions Mumbai Indians, who Rohit captains, have had their worst season ever, losing all 7 matches played in so far. This is in stark contrast to the home matches he captained against West Indies and Sri Lanka before the IPL, all of which India won handsomely despite modest contributions from Rohit. This highlights what Rohit’s batting means to Mumbai Indians when they are virtually out of contention for a place in the play-offs before the half-way stage of the tournament.
The captain’s failures have been among the two big factors in the team’s debacle this season. Mumbai have failed to get the starts they normally would and put opponents under pressure. The second is lack of runs from another stalwart, Kieron Pollard. Without adequate runs at the start and finish, Mumbai have generally posted sub-par scores which even an attack with redoubtable Jasprit Bumrah has been unable to defend.
Kohli’s drought of runs hasn’t pulled his team down as Rohit’s has in Mumbai’s case. Currently RCB are sitting pretty at no. 2 on the points table. This is largely due to efforts of captain Faf du Plessis, Aussie pace ace Josh Hazlewood and the irrepressible Dinesh Karthik who is in the throes of a remarkable second win. Still in quest of a maiden title, RCB however need Kohli, talismanic batsman and former captain, to be at his best in the remainder of the tournament.
In a wider scheme of things, with the T20 World Cup scheduled later this year, their form and fitness is crucial to India’s campaign.It is imperative for Indian cricket that Kohli and Rohit get out of the doldrums quickly.
