As captain of the Twenty20 internationals Rohit Sharma continues to sustain positive numbers. Not naive by any stretch of imagination — to showcase his leadership qualities — the seasoned campaigner in white-ball formats, and one who is making up a lot to prove his mettle in red-ball Test match cricket, has stamped his authority as captain and batter in three breezy Twenty20 internationals against New Zealand
Sharma got an opportunity to think on his feet in the past week and notch three more wins to take the winning percentage over 80 in 22 matches. All the three wins were decisive and he himself contributed aplenty with his bat to be declared the player of the series.
As a consequence of the 3-0 outcome against New Zealand, Sharma should be the obvious choice for the four-match Twenty20 series to be played against South Africa in South Africa in January 2022. The question that’s uppermost now in the minds of the discerning is whether the Twenty20 captaincy would be extended to ODIs and how this would be achieved taking Virat Kohli into confidence.
Sharma has staked a strong claim after the hands-down victory against New Zealand — led by Tim Southee and Mitchell Santner — and the BCCI may be compelled to look at Sharma as the white-ball captain for a term leading to the 2023 World Cup. Such an eventuality will also make things easier for the Head Coach Rahul Dravid and the support staff in the matter of communicating on various aspects of the game with two captains - Kohli and Sharma.
With India set to play two Tests against New Zealand at Kanpur (with Ajinkya Rahane as captain) and Mumbai (With Kohli as captain) and the three-Test series against South Africa in Johannesburg, Centurion and Cape Town) the suspense as to how the white-ball cricket captaincy will be dealt with will be known.
It was more or less certain that one of the stylish and successful batters in modern-day cricket, Sharma would be asked to take over the mantle of captaincy from Virat Kohli. Soon after the Test series in England, Kohli in order to focus on his batting, conveyed to the cricket world through his Twitter account that he doesn’t want to be weighed down by captaincy cares anymore, and he would quit from the post at the conclusion of the ICC Men’s World Twenty20.
As expected the BCCI’s senior national committee chaired by Chetan Sharma appointed Sharma as the captain for the three-match series. The short series has been done and dusted with New Zealand outplayed in all three matches. The Indian team has moved on after being shown the door by Pakistan and New Zealand, which actually lost to a vastly superior Australia in the Twenty20 World Cup final in Dubai on November 14.
Within three days India took on New Zealand without Kane Williamson, but India also fielded a team without Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja and also Hardik Pandya, who were part of the campaign in the United Arab Emirates.
Ashwin who was dropped for the World Twenty20 matches against Pakistan and New Zealand, played five matches in a row with Sharma showing a lot more confidence to deploy the off-spinner in two matches at Jaipur and Ranchi. After India clinched the series Ashwin was rested. It is possible that he will be seen in action across all formats in the coming days.
Sharma and India also had the opportunity to look at the likes of Venketesh Iyer and Harshal Patel who made their international debut against New Zealand. Seamer Patel, who had an excellent run for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL 14, has impressed showing his repertoire bowling seven overs and raking four wickets at an economy rate of 7.29. Iyer who turned out a big success for Kolkata Knight Riders as an opener, got a taste of international cricket, as a batter and bowler. Another player who staged a comeback to Twenty20 format was left arm spinner Axar Patel. He was used by Sharma in all three matches.
All said and done, the focus was on Sharma. He scored 31.49 percent of the runs India scored and found ways to deploy a bowling department that was under examination. From what transpired, it can be said Sharma made optimum use of almost everyone.
India has played 21 Twenty20 series at home and has been beaten four times since 2007. Sharma’s 3-0 win has been emphatic, a third time such a winning score has been achieved.
It goes without saying that it was an important series for Sharma in the circumstances created by Kohli’s departure as captain. The coming days will tell India whether Sharma would be nominated as captain of ODIs too! Kohli has led India in 95 ODIs with a with winning percentage of 68.42, while Sharma has led in ten matches with a winning percentage of 80!
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