What Sachin and Rohit have in common....

In a recent post on Murali Vijay, I had incidentally drawn a comparison between the youth brigade of Indian cricket (Rohit-Virat-Raina-Vijay) and the ‘fabulous four’ of the past decade (Sachin-Dravid-Ganguly-Laxman). Even though the occasion was entirely different, I really meant what I mentioned there. I had received some off-line feedback on that article from a friend, which eventually prompted me to elaborate on the topic. While he was fine with the other comparisons, he had kind of taken offence on the Sachin-Rohit parallel. Viewed in isolation, he was quite justified in saying so, but the context in which I mentioned the one-on-one past verses present does need some explanation. In this article though, we would try to address the most controversial comparison of the lot while still touching upon the others just briefly.

Sachin versus Rohit: When I compare the talented Rohit Sharma to the batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, I do not; by any means propose that Rohit is as good a batsman as the little master. Nobody can be, I only mean, if anyone comes even close to be compared with the great man, it has to be Rohit, and logically he is the one who should be batting in the number four position that’s going to be eventually vacated upon Sachin’s retirement.

I have got some strong logic going on this theory, which I have gathered from watching and analyzing Rohit’s batting, and listening to cricket experts discussing the approach of this youngster on the batting crease.

Sachin

If you look closely at Sachin in action, you would be sort of surprised to find the simplest of technique there. The little master just does the basic things right, absolutely no effort to do a copy book act, it looks as if his eyes, head, feet and every part of his body just glide through the motion when his bat meets the ball. How many times have you seen him standing out of his crease to negate the swing, or deliberately trying to move back and across while negotiating express deliveries on lightning quick pitches? Very rarely. Everything just comes automatically to this man. How does he manage to do that so effortlessly? What’s that one thing which separates him from the rest? Certainly not technique, as Sunil Gavaskar, Jeff Boycott and even the contemporary Rahul Dravid undoubtedly are known to have tighter and better technique than him. What sets Sachin apart is the amount of time that he possesses when he plays a ball. He has more time to negotiate a delivery than any other batsman I have seen. Nice and easy on the crease, he is never hurried in his stroke play, executing the most breathtaking shot with the least of fuss. Even the great Brian Lara, with that extra-ordinary amount of natural talent, looked hurried at times. This extra time-factor, coupled with a highly disciplined mind has taken Sachin to a place which others can only dream of. 

And this is exactly where Rohit is blessed. He too has that extra amount of time at his disposal. You would never see him hurried just like his idol Sachin. And this is precisely the reason why he was so successful in negotiating a rampaging Brett Lee on a super quick track in Australia with ease, when everybody else was struggling to find his bearing. That one glimpse of class turned the great Ian Chappell a fan of this young lad from India for ever, as he often asks what a batsman of the caliber of Rohit is doing outside the test team.

Rohit Sharma

Pretty much like Sachin, Rohit too has a simple technique; he looks to plays late, straight and close to his body, right under his nose. He has this lazy elegance that simply oozes class when he is on the crease. Just try and recollect any knock that he has played so far, and you would be reminded of poetry. He doesn’t have the amount of runs under his belt to make people believe in him as yet, but that’s just a matter of time. As you are aware, class is permanent.

Where Rohit lacks is not ability, but application. And he needs quite a bit of that very quickly. So far he has failed not because of short supply of talent, but discipline on the crease. He still features in the current scheme of things only because the Indian selectors have seen what Ian Chappell had seen. But if Rohit doesn’t grab the limited opportunities that come his way with both hands, he is going to miss the bus. Indian cricket is just too competitive.

Now to round it off, we would try to quickly touch base upon the other three comparisons too.

Dravid versus Kohli: I compare Virat with Rahul only due to the mental strength factor. Both are quite different players with Virat being as much aggressive as Rahul is technically equipped. But when it comes to fighting it out there in the middle or batting right through an innings under pressure, both are amongst the best of the best.

Ganguly versus Raina: Natural talent is the common factor here, unless you are mentioning the susceptibility against the short ball, which both these players have displayed. Now, Raina has to manage this weakness of his like Ganguly has done over an illustrious career. The other factor that induces this comparison is that both are aggressive left handed batsmen, who like to stamp their authority on the bowlers.

Laxman versus Vijay: I had already addressed this in a previous post, wherein I mentioned about the sublime stroke play of these immensely talented batsmen. Despite of batting at different positions, they approach the task at their hand with a similar lyrical smoothness that simply mesmerizes the viewers.

To conclude, I must reiterate that all these modern day players have much to prove before their names can even be taken in the same breath as the yester year’s greats, but they certainly have the potential to succeed on the big stage.

And India’s success lies in their success.