Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn and Rohit Sharma have one thing in common. At the beginning of their Test careers all three were made to shunt between No. 5 and No. 6. While Ponting and Rohit made it count in their first two innings – Rohit smashed two hundreds and Ponting scored two fifties – Martyn failed to impress. Matters got worse for Martyn. From being in and out of the star-studded Aussie team, Martyn lost his place in 1994 and earned it back after a gap six years in 2000. In the meantime, Ponting, a floater at 5, 6 and even 7 at times, had hit the triple-figure mark on seven occasions. Martyn staged a comeback replacing Ponting in the lower middle-order as the latter turned ‘The Punter’ at No. 3! The rest is history. The Australia’s tour of India in 2004 was probably ‘The series’ in Martyn’s career. He denied India in the searing heat at Chennai and destroyed the hosts at Nagpur to pave way for a historic series win for the visitors. Though watching from outside one always felt Martyn’s place was under the scanner after one failure, he had the team’s backing and was there and there about every time the men in green needed the most. With 14 matches under his belt, Rohit finds himself in the same space as Martyn was during his fledgling phase. Like Ponting, Rohit began with a bang. Then he wilted under pressure in alien conditions in the middle-order just as Martyn, who made a name for himself at No.5 and then at 4 later on, did. But Rohit’s wings weren’t taken off early in the piece. Kohli & Co. decided to back the 28-year-old right-handed batsman and elevated him to No.3. Though he scored a fifty in Australia, he failed miserably in the first Test in Lanka. However, the Indian team management still persisted with Rohit but pushed him down the order. And he obliged with two fifties -- one each in the second and third Test respectively . As Kohli mentioned, Rohit can definitely be that aggressor and has the qualities of a Ponting-like cricketer in the making at No. 3. On the other hand, he has the ability to mould himself to be an accumulator, grind and guide the tail under trying circumstances like a Martyn. His 79 and 50 in the first innings of the second Test and second innings of the third Test respectively showcased streaks of the sound temperament possessed by Rohit in between his flashy approach. And he certainly has the skipper and the team management rallying behind him. Whether Rohit will be a Ponting-like aggressor at No. 3 or a dependable Martyn in the middle-order, only time has the answer.
Or will Rohit end up being an Ian Bell – who has tasted success and failure from opening to No. 7 in his 115-match Test career averaging 43 - figuring out a new position match after match just because he is too good to miss the team sheet without a specific role?
BAGGS BLABBERS
