Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Wednesday, 08 January 2025
India’s dismal performance Down Under has raised several questions about the fate of top batter Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Expert opinion may be divided, but statistics reveal that the heyday of the two batting greats are over.
There is no standard age for batters to retire in international cricket. It depends on fitness and performance. But, as many analyses and pundits point out, 35 may be the optimum age when one should retire.
Sharma is 37. Kohli is 36.
And what do their performances show?
We compared their statistics with that of batting greats such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Kumar Sangakkara, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting.
A disclaimer. We looked at their Test stats in the two successive calendar years after each of these players turned 34.
Sachin Tendulkar turned 34 in 2007. In the calendar year 2008 and 2009 the masterblaster scored 1,604 runs in 19 Tests with an average of 50.12. His top score was 160 and he scored six centuries and six half-centuries in these two years.
Kohli, often touted as a better batter than Tendulkar, turned 34 in 2022. In 2023 and 2024, he scored 1,088 runs in 18 Tests with an average of 37.5. He has scored three centuries and an equal number of half centuries in these two years.
Playing one match less, Virat falls 516 runs short of Tendulkar. Can he score 516 runs in his next Test against England in their swinging pitches five months later?
Rahul Dravid turned 34 in 2007. In 2008 and 2009, Dravid played 21 Tests and scored 1,552 runs with an average of 44.34. He also scored four tons including a knock of 177 against Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad in 2009, and nine fifty-plus scores.
Rohit Sharma turned 34 in 2021. Compared to others, he has played fewer matches because of injuries. He played 10 Tests in 2022 and 2023. The Indian captain scored 635 runs at an average of 39.69 with two hundreds and two fifties, with a top score of 120 against Australia in Nagpur making up a huge chunk of his runs.
In the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar series, captain Rohit missed the first game owing to the birth of his second child. He took part in three Tests before dropping himself to the bench in Sydney. In five innings, he scored a meagre 31 runs.
Ponting, another batting great, turned 34 in 2008. In 2009 and 2010, he scored 1,666 runs with an average of 37.86. This puts him right in between Kohli and Sharma.
The former Aussie skipper did go on for two more years till 2012, He played 15 more Tests and scored only two more tons before calling it quits.
Kumar Sangakkara and Jacques Kallis managed to keep their peak going, irrespective of their age. The left-hander from Sri Lanka played 13 Tests in 2012 and 2013 after turning 34, in which he piled up 1,279 runs at a staggering average of 60.9. Sangakkara hit five fifties and five hundreds with a best of 199 not out against Pakistan in Galle.
Kallis played 16 Tests and amassed 1,557 runs at an average of 70.77 with eight hundreds and three half centuries in 2010 and 2011 after turning 34.
When pitted against the performance of these legendary batters, Kohli and Sharma fall short.
On Tuesday, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar said that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's Test future is now in the hands of selectors, while advocating an honest deep dive into the team's downward spiral in the last six months.
In an interview to PTI, Gavaskar said that the responsibility lies with the Ajit Agarkar-led national selection committee to give a fair chance to those waiting in the wings.
Asked about the raging debate surrounding the future of struggling stars Rohit and Kohli, Gavaskar said, "How long they continue is really up to the selectors."
Former India all rounder and coach Ravi Shastri echoed similar views on Sharma a few days ago.
Kohli may have fitness by his side but the younger generation of bowlers seem to have his number. His struggles against Aussie quicks in the Border-Gavaskar Test series, who got him out nine times in the exact same manner, was a matter of social media memes.
While Kohli has maintained silence. Rohit Sharma has said, “I am not going anywhere.”
Should the selectors get to the drawing board and start figuring out the next string of players with the likes of Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Devdutt Paddikal and Rajat Patidar waiting in the wings?
India’s last Test triple centurion, Karun Nair, still hasn’t played for the nation since his mammoth innings. And even Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane weren’t given a second look.
