Will Rohit Sharma Rule the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 with his new approach?

The apex body of Indian cricket, BCCI, has confirmed that Rohit Sharma will lead the men in blue in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Rohit announced his international T20 exit after leading the team to a title win in the T20 World Cup 2024. It is safe to say that the future of the Indian cricket team lies in the hands of a captain who has evolved and mended himself to become a top-performing and seasoned batsman.

Rohit Sharma’s shift from an anchor to aggressor

The last series of ICC World Cup 2023, saw a significant shift in the approach of Rohit Sharma. The team leader, a top-order batsman, usually proceeds with a conservative approach. However, he opted for a high-risk performance to set the tone of the match in the initial innings. 

Rohit Sharma 2019 Cricket World Cup Stats

Rohit Sharma played 9 matches in the campaign. He was a top run-scorer with 648 runs at an average of 81 and a strike rate of 98.33 including 5 centuries. Sharma displayed the characteristics of an anchor, preserving the wicket and keeping his attack instincts in check.

Rohit Sharma 2023 Cricket World Cup Stats

On the contrary, his strategy took a complete U-turn, when he transformed into a full-blown aggressor in the 2023 World Cup edition. He managed a higher strike rate of 125.95. One would assume a lower average due to the high-risk strategy, but he defied the odds by scoring 597 runs with an average of 54.27.

What pushed Rohit Sharma to change his game plan?

The 2023 World Cup has given us Rohit Sharma 2.0. It has left everyone wondering what made him choose this drastic change. Many commentators have criticized the 36-year-old’s transformation, as they want him to continue with fewer strokes at the top and longer gameplay at the crease. However, it is crucial to demystify the big change and its deeper impact on the future of the Indian team.

During his prime years, Rohit Sharma’s plan of action during the innings would have a diminishing no. of dot balls across the top, middle, and final overs. He would start slow with self-preservation and then gain momentum hitting explosive strokes in the death overs. The reason behind being an anchor could be the lack of good middle-order batters available in the Indian team. 

At that time, there was a challenge in integrating MS Dhoni into the batting order. His abilities to battle spin in middle overs and pace in death were diminishing. This created a lot of instability for the team, forcing the likes of Rohit to take the slower approach at the top. The period of 2016 to 2019, saw a dynamic trio of Rohit, Kohli, and Dhawan. They ruled the top and middle-order overs, followed by MS Dhoni. Playing slow at the start and exploding by death became crucial to crafting a winning strategy.

As the era of cricket advanced, Rohit’s team had more resources in hand. They had Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul gracing the middle order with their exceptional spin-handling skills. Also, Virat Kohli’s solidity allowed him to go for the risk. This mighty trio managed the middle overs skillfully bringing stability to India’s game.

Rohit Sharma’s recent shift in approach comes from confidence and freedom after having a robust middle-order fitting. This has added more depth and dimension to his gameplay tactics. He has shown faith in Kohli holding the fort in case of his wicket. Being an aggressor he can have an edge over other teams with changing trends in the recent ODIs. This has given freedom to young talents like Shubman Gill to play a free-flowing game. Other than this, the pitch, Rohit’s leadership, and the change in bowling attacks have influenced him to change from anchor to aggressor.

What future consequences can this change in role have?

The role of aggressor comes with its cons. It would mean a high risk of Sharma losing his wicket early, giving the fate of the next course of the innings to the next batsman. He will have to compromise with consistency due to this selflessness, which comes with the anchor approach. While there is no doubt that Sharma will nail an aggressor’s role, it will be interesting to watch him juggle consistency with roaring strokes in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025.