AS THE Indians got busy posing with the ICC Champions Trophy, skipper Rohit Sharma would quietly emerge out of the smog, walk to the middle of the pitch, uproot one of the stumps and have a short dandiya jig with Virat Kohli. Unlike in Barbados last year when India won the T20 World Cup, where he struggled to hold back tears, here he would hug his longtime teammate with a huge grin.
In a matter of months, Rohit’s fortunes have taken a dramatic turn. At the start of the year, when Rohit dropped himself for the Sydney Test after a string of low scores, his future in the team was in question. There were doubts whether he would even lead the team here. But here he was, putting the team once again on the podium holding a trophy aloft. A T20 World Cup title eight months ago in the Caribbean and now the Champions Trophy puts Rohit just one step below M S Dhoni as the most successful Indian captain in ICC events.
With speculation about his international future and the possibility of him walking away from the ODI format on a high, Rohit would end the press conference with a disclaimer for anyone who had doubts about his future. “One more thing, I am not going to retire from this format… just to make sure that no rumours are spread, moving forward. Ok guys? Thank you so much.”
After a lean recent patch, the triumph here has given him a shot in the arm. Rohit missed a chance to do it all by himself on the night and had to overcome a roller-coaster ride that would have definitely set some jitters in the dressing room. When he sat and watched Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel get out, he would have cursed himself and his dismissal would have kept playing endlessly in his mind.
