Dead man walking

It has been one tour too many for India’s beleaguered captain Rohit Sharma. KEN PIESSE says it’s time to go. He is a dead man walking.

Fifty years ago at the height of the tornado called Lillee and Thomson, England’s run-starved leader Mike Denness stood down, conceding he was a liability to his team and no longer deserving of a place.

Throw forward to this Boxing Day Test and India’s Rohit Sharma is in a similar pickle.

At 37, he’s batting from memory and even his shift back up the order made no difference as he again succumbed meekly to Australia’s golden boy Pat Cummins.

His tame, half-hearted pull shot landed in the safe hands of a grateful Scott Boland at mid-on, placing his Indian team on an immediate precipice.

He walked off crestfallen, with an average of 11 in his last nine Tests home and away since September.

‘His head is on the guillotine,’ said English legend Sir Ian Botham, who is here as a commentator.

One of Australia’s most noted captains Mark Taylor, also in the pressbox, was critical of Sharma’s on-field leadership, which saw the game meander and Australia bat into a 10^th hour.

‘Will they drop him for Sydney? Probably not, ‘ said Taylor. ‘But it should be a consideration. He looks tired.’

Clearly Sharma has made one tour too many and another failure at the weekend when India bats last to save the game could see him walk away from Test cricket, after his recent retirement from Twenty20s. 

Whether he can last to February and the Champion’s Trophy back on the sub-continent is problematical.

India’s top-order was rearranged to allow Sharma to open up here and he failed, miserably. The specialist batsman dropped,  Shubman Gill, is three times  Sharma’s superior. 

Sharma started the series late and has made 3, 6, 10 and 3 in four innings, falling three times to the rampant Cummins.

Even Indian insiders consider Jasprit Bumrah to be a super captain. He won his only Test of the summer in Perth, when Sharma was absent on paternity grounds.

On Boxing Day, the iconic Sunil Gavaskar recalled the bravery and pluck of India’s 1967-68 captain the Nawab of Pataudi at the MCG when he made two 70s against the might of Graham McKenzie and co. ‘And he was on one leg and had only one eye,’ said Sunny.

Gavaskar and others would like  Sharma to show the same spirit.

It was an eventful day for India’s old stagers.  Fresh from a $2000 fine for deliberate body contact in mid-pitch on the opening morning, Virat Kohli was booed by thousands as he walked to the wicket immediately after the tea interval.

Like Sharma, he has been under increasing pressure, despite a second innings century in Perth.

A flick to leg against Cummins and a short single to deep cover against Boland were greeted by chants of ‘Kohli, Kohli, Kohli’ from the Indians before they were drowned out by widespread boos from those unhappy with the old master’s petulance on the opening day.

Aside from his deliberate shoulder bump on debutant Sam Konstas in the first hour, Kohli spat in the direction of the crowd at the member’s end after he’d athletically chased down a boundary hit in the middle session, triggering more jeers.

India’s  hopes of staying in the game rested with its two champions, first time tourist, 22-year-old Yashasvi  Jaiswal and Kohli, 35, on his fifth.

A signature cover drive against Cummins reminded of past glories. Kohli followed with a silky flick  to the foot of the Ponsford Stand.

Local hero Boland  was given an extended eight over spell, either side of tea, his angle across the  left-handed Jaiswal keeping the slips animated.

Jaiswal looked a class above everyone else, even Kohli with his flowing off drives and delicate  deliberate lifts over the top of gully. His half century was greeted joyously. He followed with the shot of the game, a superb drive wide of mid-on against Mitchell Starc.

Unlike Sharma, he is the hope of the team.