Rohit, India’s Test and ODI captain who has been going through a poor run of form, became the subject of much attention ahead of the game as soon as he nodded and confirmed his presence in the game. “It will be,” he said at the press conference announcing the Champions Trophy squad last week. Wearing a white floppy hat and sunglasses, Rohit took his time before the match, joking with his teammates as they warmed up by playing head volleyball.
It was a cool winter morning in Mumbai. It wasn’t until a week later, when temperatures reached the mid-30s, that I felt relief. And J&K’s opening bowlers took advantage of the early morning nip.
Rohit pushed a Nabi delivery through covers for a couple in the next over, but was once again silenced by Mir, who was rewarded off the 17th ball. He bowled a long delivery with some movement from the right-hand batsman at the fifth stump. Rohit tried to play his trademark pick-up shot over midwicket, but it only edged to the off side. Paras Dogra runs a few yards to the left at mid-off, loud and clear to get extra cover and pocket Rohit to end his stay in the middle.
The short stay in the middle meant Rohit continued his lean run in red-ball cricket. In five home Tests against Bangladesh and New Zealand at home last year, he was just shy of a half-century, scoring four single-digit scores in 10 innings against New Zealand in Bengaluru. He has also scored double figures only once in five innings for Australia, and has played in three of the five Test matches. He finished the 2024-25 Test season with a batting average of 10.93.
Rohit’s first-class batting average of 10.43 across 16 innings in the 2024-25 season is the second-lowest among batsmen since 2006 (he has been in the top six for at least 15 innings). England’s Haseeb Hameed averaged 9.44 in 18 innings in the 2018 season.
Before Rohit, Jaiswal fell. Nabi got his line right against the left-handed batsman and moved two balls wide. One of them narrowly missed the outside edge of Jaiswal’s bat. There was no quiet appeal. In the next ball (the third ball of the third over), Nabi was bowled at length and hit back furiously. Jaiswal was caught off guard and hit on the inside edge, then on the middle leg and the hind leg just in front of the leg. He had a pretty deep crease and it took the referee almost no time to raise his finger. Jaiswal, who was one of India’s most successful batsmen in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, has four runs to his name.
After the match was 41 for 4, Nazir said Rohit’s wicket was “priceless”. “A good ball is a good ball for any player. Don’t look at the height of the player. But Rohit Sharma’s wicket was big so I’m happy. When you dismiss a player for the country, it’s always a valuable wicket.” . There was some superficial help and I tried to bowl in the right areas. Rohit Sharma is a big name and his wicket was important for us and personally.”
“I went to bed at 10pm last night and woke up around 7am and felt pretty comfortable,” Nazir said. “Because of the bounce on the surface, I tried to bowl at a longer distance. The first thing that came to my mind (when Rohit was dismissed) was… I didn’t celebrate because I am a huge fan of Rohit Sharma. If we win this game, “It will be a proud moment for me and the team as India’s captain is playing for the opposition team.”
