Batsmen blessed with immaculate timing are alternately labelled languid or lazy, depending on their form. Whenever the chips are down, the flip side of not being a power hitter is to be looked down upon as a laidback slacker lacking in commitment.
Rohit Sharma has suffered from the same quick dismissal in recent times, but the batsman made a telling statement on Wednesday, remaining unbeaten on 309 as Mumbai declared their first innings at 648/6 on the second day of their Ranji Trophy match against Gujarat. In reply, the visitors were 120/1 at stumps.
After getting dropped from the Indian Test and ODI squads, Rohit was slotted as a batsman who didn't have the patience or temperament for the longer versions. Barely hanging on to the T20 squad, there were only sporadic appearances on TV, wearing India colours or scoring runs for the Deccan Chargers. As Rohit said after his 458-minute stay at the crease, it has been a bitter pill to swallow to be described as a T20 specialist.
"This knock means a lot to me. Without doubt, this is my best innings. Questions were being asked if I was good for the longer versions. I have been through tough times, but this triple hundred will change things," he said.
Rohit belongs to a cricketing alumni for whom effortlessness is the hallmark. But this eye-pleasing style is a complicated art where a minor glitch can make him look ugly. Mumbai coach Praveen Amre described how a small change of the perfect template can make a world of a difference.
Getting the right feel
Finding it difficult to explain in lay terms, Amre searched for a word, before settling for 'feel'.
"The feel has to be right for players like Rohit. There are small things - like a slight tilt of head, a minor change in the early movement and transfer of weight - that matter a lot. He worked on these things and got it right in the game against Railways. And when he started this inning with a straight drive, I knew he'd figured it out," he said.
Rohit added: "This morning, I started with a straight drive. But after every 10 minutes I was telling myself that I had to play my natural game and score freely," he said. He did exactly that, getting 101 runs from 93 balls before lunch.
The tired Gujarat bowling unit stuck to a negative line but Rohit was unstoppable, hitting 38 fours and four sixes in all. As he moved out of the Brabourne Stadium, he dragged his feet. No, they didn't call him lazy but spoke about his languid approach during his tiring triple hundred.
Sandeep Dwivedi
