One may not be able to read too much in a six-ball innings, but every trip Rohit Sharma makes to the middle has considerable significance with regard to his goal of going out in a high at the 50-over World Cup next year.
New Zealand hasn’t often been a happy hunting ground for the former India captain, and the duck on Wednesday will ensure that he will not look back at his short stint in Auckland with much fondness either.
After the Kiwis were bowled out for a modest score, there was no scoreboard pressure on Rohit. He could have taken his time settling in before unfurling some of his favourite shots. But Kyle Jamieson kept him on a tight leash in the first over of the chase .
The first delivery was full and on the stumps, and Rohit could only defend it with a full face of the bat. The next one was a play-and-miss as the veteran tried to fend at it gingerly.
With a height of six feet and eight inches, Jamieson is the tallest player ever to represent New Zealand in international cricket. That allows him to get disconcerting bounce. The third ball of the over was on a good length outside off-stump, and Rohit had to stand tall to tap it, as the wait for his first run continued.
The next ball was on a fuller length and shaped away from outside the off-stump. The batsman covered his stumps and let it go.
The next one, full and on the stumps gave him half a chance of getting off the mark, but Rohit failed to beat midwicket with his flick.
A wide down the legside brought India their first run, but the extra delivery proved costly for the opener. A full ball outside off – not a half-volley – was driven on the up and in the air. It was struck decently but allowed New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner to dive in front and come up with the catch.
It could be described as a soft dismissal, but maybe Rohit saw a ball in his zone and thought about it as a scoring opportunity. The new ball generally does more in New Zealand than in India, and the pitches also offer more bounce, factors that could have worked against Rohit.
He didn’t have things all his way during the ODIs in New Zealand in 2019 and 2020 either. The home side’s bowlers have often troubled him by keeping the ball full and moving it late. Matt Henry bowled him in Wellington in 2019 with a delivery that moved away at the last moment, squaring him up. Shots that come easily on subcontinent wickets have an element of risk attached to them in Kiwi land.
Coming into the series, Rohit had an average of 36.41 and a strike rate of 72.95 from 14 ODIs in New Zealand – much worse than his overall figures in the format. He doesn’t have a hundred in that country, to go with four half-centuries. Those statistics wouldn’t have improved after his short innings on Wednesday. Whether that record plays on his mind, only he can tell. But it adds even more significance to the remaining matches in the current series, as far as Rohit’s individual ambitions are concerned.