The Aussie tour nightmare for India’s superstar batsmen continues. With tame dismissals in Melbourne, it seems the curtain is slowly coming down. Will they give themselves one more Test at Sydney with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy still up for grabs?
“This isn’t the time for ‘I told you so,’ but of sadness,” says 78-year-old Jim Maxwell, the ABC radio commentator with 51 years of experience. Just a day earlier, Maxwell had commented on how Kohli lacked mental discipline and how Rohit seemed “sadly past it.” The next day, his tone shifted, speaking with a sense of resignation: “There has been a shoulder barge, luckily a hundred at Perth, but I’ll happily take away memories of what Kohli has done in the past. We Australians haven’t seen the best of Rohit in Tests, but it seems like he’s past it now.”
It’s no longer a question of “if” but “when” Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will call it a day. The 50-over Champions Trophy is just 50 days away, but after that? Will they announce their Test retirement first, perhaps after the fifth Test at Sydney, or something more drastic?
And to think, Rohit started the fourth day well, perhaps the best he’s seen in this series. The first good sign came in the fourth ball of the fourth over, where his left foot moved forward as he stroked a Pat Cummins delivery. He got off the mark in the fifth over with a simple tap to mid-off.
The fifth-day pitch offered little deviation, and he didn’t have to make last-minute adjustments, playing the line—a thing he’s most comfortable with. His feet moved more fluidly, nothing extraordinary, but for a batsman stuck at the crease, this was progress. He survived Cummins’s first spell and played just one ball off Mitch Starc’s initial three overs. Then came the eighth over, where he drove a delivery from Starc but sent it past backward point for three runs. He steadied himself once again.
Scott Boland tested him with deliveries that kicked up from length. Rohit got squared up but instinctively pulled his bottom hand off the bat, and the resulting edge fell short of the slip cordon. He frequently walked over to chat with his partner Yashasvi Jaiswal, offering advice whenever he sensed a mental lapse in the youngster. He’d casually stroll over, offer a quiet word, and return to his position.
But was he simply playing the waiting game, trying to imitate KL Rahul’s approach? Why disturb the balance if he could ride out the session?
Despite the pressure, Rohit appeared more serene than ever on this tour, and his best shot came in the 11th over. Pat Cummins returned from the other end, and Rohit leaned forward, crisply punching a wobbling delivery to mid-off. No run came, but it felt like a moment from better days.
A drinks break followed, and immediately, something seemed off. The first ball from Boland in the channel saw Rohit poke and miss. The next delivery had his bat face shut early, but he crossed over for a single to midwicket. Then came the full delivery from Cummins—a sucker ball, tempting him to drive across the line. But the ball straightened and took the edge, flying to gully where Mitch Marsh caught it on the rebound.
When KL Rahul fell in the same over, Virat Kohli walked in to bat. As he was about to face his first delivery, the Australian crowd erupted in boos, quickly followed by chants of “Kohli, Kohli!” from the Indian section.
The action shifted to the final over before lunch. Mitch Starc delivered a full ball well outside off—a classic ploy to tempt Kohli. But Kohli, in his current form, should have resisted the temptation. As Maxwell pointed out, Kohli’s mental discipline has been lacking. He knew better, but something snapped, and he chased the delivery, nicking off in the process.
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