In Kohli's absence, Rohit gears up to trouble Sarfraz yet again

Going into the Super 4, both teams are one win away from a final ticket and would be looking towards their skipper to lead them

It was one of the most obvious things to do when in Dubai on an off-day from work, and especially when you are with your wife. Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar indulged in some shopping to unwind before the big India-Pakistan Super 4 game; elsewhere KL Rahul decided to de-stress with some net practice along with the support staff at the ICC Academy. Rahul has been relegated to the bench, surprisingly though, but he is a kind of a batsman who needs a hit each day to keep him going. Keep him in form and game ready. Just in case.

And then there is Rohit Sharma. The no-fuss batsman, who can simply pick up the bat after several days and weeks, and still slam it in a flow. Rahul isn’t in the XI, and not missed either, is because of Rohit Sharma. And the shots oozing out from Rohit’s blade — two back to back half-centuries this Asia Cup. To state the cliché, Rohit has been leading from the front and his deputy, Shikhar Dhawan has been steadfast in his support at the top of the order.

Rohit has been the story of this tournament; definitely, it’s about his captaincy, and most definitely his batting. In the weeks running up to the Asia Cup, Rohit would, rather uncharacteristically drive down to Bandra Kurla Complex when it wouldn’t rain in Mumbai to hit a few balls. And then he would just spend hours together. Not just to get back in form but to take out his anger and anguish of being left out of the Test team.

Generally, Rohit wouldn’t bother too much about practice; he rather prefers to be in good mental space and iron out the bat-swing going just a couple of days before the game. But Rohit this time has been frighteningly too serious in his preparations.

It is worth mentioning a slice of statistic here — Rohit averages 50+ in Virat Kohli’s absence for Team India and without Virat, India has in recent times lost just 1 match. It generally has been against the weaker nations but it is for the first time that Virat has given himself a break from a cricket Major. Virat averages 45 against Pakistan but that holds no relevance here, given Rohit and his team’s performance.

Rohit and Virat have some more recent history, and not just about unfollowing each other on social platforms. Rohit is hurting from his omission despite his decent run in red-ball cricket and fired a subtle but telling salvo at Virat.

“If you look at the future, as a captain or player, you want your team to be settled and even the guys who are eyeing that spot want to be settled. Nobody likes to be dropped and brought back into the squad. We want everyone to be feeling safe and settled so that they can play freely. Right now looking at all the guys who are eyeing that spot, mentally they look fresh and are raring to go. I guess they're just a performance away from making their claim for that particular spot,” says Rohit

Rohit has preferred Ravindra Jadeja instantly to Axar and ensured senior guys are not serving drinks. Rohit has still preferred Dinesh Karthik and Rayadu to Rahul. Karthik is still unsure of his place in the squad while Jadeja is just marking his return but Rohit took the risk of playing with three spinners and keeping an inform batsman out in the cold.

Rohit has differed from Virat in many ways now, but his most immediate competition is from Sarfaraz and the Pakistan team.

“When everything goes to plan, it looks easy, says Rohit. “We will come back fresh against Pakistan and try to replicate the performance (against Bangladesh). It was a clinical performance from the start. We bowled very well and we always knew it was going to be better batting under the lights. Very good from everyone.”

Not so good for Sarfaraz, who is on the other extreme of Rohit. No one to challenge his position as skipper, or his ideas but he has been merely standing behind wickets, without a half-century in many innings. Sarfaraz has admitted to being under pressure to perform and his biggest test will come against India on Sunday. The Pakistan team opted against a practice session on Saturday, having struggled through Afghanistan in a tight encounter and then making that 2-hour drive from Abu Dhabi to Dubai before hitting the bed.

Sarfaraz did spend a few hours at the Intercontinental hotel lobby, talking to his friends and posing for photographs but looked a bit tensed and uncomfortable when they asked him to hit a century in the next game.   

India versus Pakistan has been high-scoring in Oval and low-scoring in Dubai but the previous three meetings between the two sides have been pretty lop-sided; India has won two of the three but lost out on a crucial trophy game. Going into the Super 4, both teams are one win away from a final ticket and would be looking towards their skipper to lead them. Not just for the national anthem on the field. Throughout the 100 overs, if the game goes the distance.