Image source: X (CricTracker)
Mike Denness. Indian cricket. The two share an uneasy history. The 2001-02 India tour of South Africa was stained by one of cricket’s ugliest controversies. Denness, as match referee, clashed with some of Indian cricket’s biggest names.
But this isn’t about that. Around the same time, in the maidansof Mumbai, a teenager named Rohit Gurunath Sharma was crafting his destiny. With his wily off-breaks and, of course, the elegance with the willow, he blazed through the Giles and Harris Shield tournaments. Those who saw him play then weren’t just impressed—they were convinced. It wasn’t if Rohit would make it big, but when.
Back to Denness. In the 1974-75 Ashes, the England captain did the unthinkable. He dropped himself for the Sydney Test. Poor form with the bat left him with little choice. England were down 0-2 after three Tests. Denness later recalled the moment as his career’s “lowest” point.
Nearly half a century later, Rohit repeated the rare “Denness act.” Runs? Missing. Wins? Absent. Confidence? Wavering. So, Rohit, the Indian skipper, benched himself for the Sydney Test — quite an ironic coincidence. His decision was right, though undeniably bold, as it came with a glaring ‘no entry’ sign looming at the next turn. We will come to that.
For Denness, the self-benching didn’t spark a miracle. England lost the Sydney Test and, with it, the series. Denness returned for Adelaide, scored a fifty, and eventually signed off with a fine 188 in a consolation win. He would go on to play a few more Tests.
What about Rohit? India’s Sydney defeat sealed a 1-3 series loss, the end of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy’s eight-year reign, and the end of a disastrous Test season. For the first time, India missed the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
Rohit, inching towards 38, said he isn’t retiring from Test cricket yet. However, with India in freefall, a new WTC cycle on the horizon, his own form in tatters, and R Ashwin walking away, it’s hard to see him playing another Test—if merit and logic are to be applied.
In 11 years, Rohit’s Test career swayed between extremes: ‘unlucky,’ ‘frustrating,’ ‘lucky,’ ‘exceptional,’ ‘fearless,’ and ‘underachiever.’ It began with promise and probably has ended in chaos, leaving us confused on the Test legacy of one of India’s most celebrated cricketers. Let’s look at the fragments.
Inconsistencies as a middle-order batter (2013/14 to 2016)
946 runs from 18 Tests at an average of 32.6 | 100s 2 and 50s 2
Back in the maidan days of the early 2000s, it was evident that Rohit’s leap to international cricket was only a matter of time. He broke into the white-ball setup in 2007, shone in India’s T20 World Cup triumph that year, and starred in the CB Series win in 2008. That year, he was among the sought-after buys in the inaugural IPL auction.
As the national team underwent a transition around the turn of the decade, Rohit seemed destined to make his Test debut in 2010. It was scheduled to happen in Nagpur, his birthplace, but a cruel twist of fate, a last-minute injury, delayed his moment by over three years. Over the next few years, he watched Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, and Shikhar Dhawan leapfrog him to earn their Test caps.
The moment finally arrived in 2013 during Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell series. By then, Rohit was already a white-ball star and the captain of Mumbai Indians. He announced his arrival with style, slamming back-to-back hundreds in Kolkata and Mumbai—two venues that would later become milestones in his career.
But then came the challenges of timing and circumstance. India didn’t play another home Test for the next two years. When they finally did, it was against South Africa on rank turners. During this phase, Rohit played 14 Tests away from home, including eight in SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia). While Rohit had the backing of his captains—MS Dhoni and later Virat Kohli—his inconsistency often left him in and out of the playing XI. The promise of his early hundreds faded as questions about his ability to deliver consistently grew louder.
Improved but tussle for spot (2016/17 to 2019)
639 runs from 9 Tests at an average of 58.9 | 100s 1 and 50s 6
Kohli, Pujara and Rahane formed India’s middle-order spine, with the former rewriting records with remarkable batting and leadership. With Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja contributing with bat, Rohit didn’t have a permanent spot in the XI. He would make it count in the home Tests but remained vulnerable to the moving ball in more hostile conditions.
During this phase, India played 36 Tests, but Rohit featured in just nine of them. While his home performances were solid, doubts lingered over his ability to succeed in SENA countries. He played two Tests in South Africa and Australia during this period, averaging 19 and 35, respectively. Despite occasional glimpses of brilliance, consistency remained elusive.
Meanwhile, in white-ball cricket, Rohit had firmly established himself as one of India’s greatest ODI batters. And in Kohli’s absence, he would frequently captain the side with distinction. Under his leadership, India won prestigious tournaments like the Nidahas Trophy and the Asia Cup in 2018. Rohit’s leadership in franchise cricket were legendary by then. He had captained Mumbai Indians to four IPL titles and a CLT20 trophy.
The Best (2019/20 to 2024)
2,252 runs from 32 Tests at an average of 50 | 100s 9 and 50s 7
The early 30s are often considered a batter’s prime, and for Rohit, his Test renaissance began at 32. But this wasn’t a typical resurgence. Few batters in the game have reinvented their techniques and switched roles as dramatically as Rohit did—transitioning from the middle order to opening the innings in Test cricket. With slots in the middle-order sealed by Pujara, Kohli, and Rahane, Rohit had no choice but to venture to the top of the order—the exact position where he had flourished in white-ball cricket. But, in Tests, opening is where the major challenges lie.
Rohit embraced the shift with diligence and discipline, tweaking his technique to suit the opening demands. His front-foot stride became longer, his hands stayed closer to his body, and his decision-making against the moving ball improved. He focused on playing within the ‘V,’ cutting down risky strokes square of the wicket early in his innings. He defended patiently off the front foot, waiting for the ball to be convincingly full or short to score off them. His transformation was technical and mental.
What began with a bang against South Africa at home in 2019 turned into five years of consistent brilliance. While injuries ruled him out of key tours to New Zealand and South Africa, he remained India’s best batter in Tests. He was also the only opener in the world, averaging over 50 among batters with more than 1,050 runs during this period. Only Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne scored more runs as an opener during this phase, but Rohit’s ability to dominate across formats set him apart.
One of his finest hours came on a treacherous Chennai surface in the second Test against England in 2021. Rohit’s 161 was a masterclass in combating spin. This five-and-a-half-hour effort wasn’t about attacking out of trouble but grinding the opposition down with patience and mastery. His adaptability shone again in Ahmedabad and then in England as he compiled vital runs across varied conditions.
In 2022, Rohit was handed the reins of the Test side. Bazballwas shaking up the cricketing world, and England’s high-octane approach was proving challenging to counter. When England toured India in early 2024, Rohit led a young side. With Kohli unavailable and both Pujara and Rahane losing their spots, Rohit had to step up. Young Yashasvi Jaiswal and the Indian bowlers delivered the series victory, but Rohit’s two sublime hundreds and leadership stood out.
But all that was set to change soon.
The Incredible Slump (2024/25)
164 runs from 8 Tests at an average of 10.9 | 50s 1
In November 2023, Rohit came agonisingly close to lifting the ODI World Cup. Seven months later, fortunes reversed. He etched his name in history as India’s third captain—after Kapil Dev and Dhoni—to lift a World Cup, this time the T20 World Cup, ending India’s 11-year ICC trophy drought. India were on a high, ruling the charts WTC as well, needing only a few home wins to secure their spot in the final.
Things began promisingly. Bangladesh pushed India hard at home, but this new, seemingly aggressive Indian side under Rohit bulldozed their way to a 2-0 series win. Then came New Zealand. And with them, disaster. New Zealand inflicted India’s worst-ever Test series defeat at home—a 0-3 whitewash. It was also India’s first home series defeat in 12 years. Rohit’s inexplicable shot selection and Kohli’s struggles for runs stood out as glaring reasons for the collapse. Ashwin and Jadeja’s form didn’t help either.
The Australia tour followed, and things only got worse. Rohit missed the first Test at Perth, which India won under stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah. But when Rohit returned, the team lost two of the following three Tests, and his batting form nosedived further. His batting form further affected his captaincy, and decision-making throughout the tour seemed baffling.
Across the three Tests in Australia, Rohit managed only 31 runs at an average of 6.2. For context, Bumrah, who led India in two Tests, took more wickets (32) than the runs Rohit scored. The slump forced Rohit to drop himself for the final Test, ending the 2024/25 cycle with the second-lowest average for an Indian batter in a season (minimum 10 innings in the top six). Only Chandu Sarwate’s 10 in 1947/48 was worse.
India lost five of the eight Tests under Rohit’s leadership this season and six of the 10 they played overall in 2024/25. The slump cast a long shadow over his legacy as a Test captain. Among Indian captains with at least 1,000 runs, Rohit’s average of 30.6 is the lowest ever.
Rohit Sharma’s Test Career
67 Tests | 4,301 Runs | HS 212 | Ave 40.6 | SR 57 | 100s 12 | 50s 18
Captained 24 Tests | Won 12 | Lost 9 | Draw 3
For the skills he possessed, Rohit will be remembered as an underachiever in Test cricket—brilliant, frustrating, but unforgettable. But hold on, he has not retired from Tests yet. The world of sports is unpredictable, and who knows if another remarkable chapter of his career is still to come.